"Report."

"The Shanchi squadron that escorted the chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff to Lixian was attacked by the Eighth Route Army on the road near Pingxian, and Captain Shanchi urgently telegraphed to request tactical guidance."

"Nani!"

"Order the 1st Infantry Brigade of the 1st Wing, the Cavalry Brigade directly under it, and the Patrol Armored Squadron to be reinforced immediately."

When the telegram for help reached the commander of the 29th Brigade, Kotani Matsubara, he immediately sent reinforcements and cavalry brigades, the only two mobile forces in his hands, to reinforce them.

The total strength is less than 1,200.

A chief of staff and deputy chief of staff with more than 70,000 troops were attacked, and the brigades stationed in the surrounding areas only sent this reinforcement, which was really too shabby.

But Kotani Matsubara is also bitter and unspeakable.

Since February of this year, his 29th Brigade has continued to lose troops.

The Liao County Prisoner of War Battalion Garrison Squadron, the Hejin Squadron, the Xiye Squadron, and then the later Beijing Brigade in Liao County, as well as the Shan Dao Wing, added up one after another, with a total loss of more than 5,000 troops!

It's a loss, not a casualty!

And the replenishment is only two thousand people.

The difference is three thousand!

That is to say, the total strength of the 29th Brigade at this time was only more than 4,000 people, which was just the size of a full infantry wing.

Although there were two fewer counties that needed to defend the garrison, and Yuxian and Liao counties were occupied by the Eighth Route Army, the 386th Brigade under his jurisdiction was the 386th Brigade, which was stronger than the Locust Army in light firepower.

The defense pressure has been increased several times compared to before.

It's good to be able to squeeze out 1,200 people.

Kotani Matsubara also knew that the Eighth Route Army, which dared to ambush the locust squadron in the hinterland of the locust army in Pingxian County, must not be weak, and also contacted the railway patrol armored squadron to dispatch.

Naoto Matsuzaki, the section chief of the Bei Ping directly subordinate organ who came to Yangquan and investigated the source of supplies for the Eighth Route Army, also followed.

What Kotani Matsuhara didn't expect was that

By the time his cavalry brigade arrived at the battlefield at a rapid pace, the battle was already over.

But the tragedy of the battlefield made the reinforced Devil Cavalry Brigade feel uneasy - there were craters everywhere, dense, and terrifying, two armored vehicles were destroyed, the chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff of the First Army were shattered, and the guarded Shanchi squadron suffered heavy losses.

The corpses of the locust army and the earth eight roads are intertwined, and at a cursory glance, there are no less than a hundred, and most of them are locust army corpses.

According to reports, the battle lasted only fifteen minutes.

····

"In this ambush battle, the purpose of the Eighth Route Army is to attack and kill the chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff."

Naoto Matsuzaki, who arrived later, inspected the battlefield and questioned the surviving soldiers, and judged the purpose of the Eighth Route Army.

The Eighth Route Army ambushed the troops, suppressed the escort squadron with ferocious fire, and then launched a cluster charge, headed straight for the two armored vehicles, killed the two chiefs of staff, and immediately retreated.

No love for war.

So much so that in just fifteen minutes, the battle was over.

This is also the reason why even if there is fierce firepower suppression, the absolute superiority of firepower warfare, and the casualties of Tubalu are relatively large.

Therefore, it is clear at a glance that the purpose of this ambush battle of Tubalu is to kill the chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff of the First Army.

According to the statistics of battlefield traces, there are at least seven hundred craters on the battlefield, most of which are craters caused by 82 mortars, a small part are 60 mortar craters, and grenade craters.

This is also the fundamental reason why even if the escort squadron desperately protects, the two chiefs of staff are still broken.

The enemy firepower is really strong!

"There are only more than a hundred people on Tubalu?"

The report of the follow-up battle of the escort squadron made Naoto Matsuzaki feel that something was wrong.

During the ambush, the Eighth Route Army fired more than 400 rounds of 82 mortar shells, each weighing three kilograms, plus propellants, boxes, and more than 30 rounds of 60 mortar shells.

The shell weighed close to two tons.

More than 100 people carried nearly two tons of shells, and there were no horseshoe prints around them, indicating that without the assistance of a large number of mules and horses, the mobility would not be very high, and it was almost impossible to march long distances.

The location where the battle took place belonged to the boundary of Pingxian County, only ten kilometers away from the Zhengtai Line, and even if the assembly time was counted, the reinforcements of the cavalry brigade under the brigade would only take forty minutes to arrive.

In addition, this is the main road, and there will be patrol teams patrolling the perimeter on a regular basis, especially when high-ranking officers pass by, and the frequency of patrols will be doubled.

Even if the subordinates are perfunctory, the patrol of the highway will not be reduced, and basically every hour during the day there will be patrols passing.

There are also no positions suitable for concealment in the perimeter.

It is explained that the Tuba Road ambush force temporarily arrived at both flanks of the highway to ambush the convoy when it was about to arrive, avoiding the patrol.

It is a quick ambush war.

Rapid ambush warfare requires sufficient and accurate intelligence.

The chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff of the First Army arrived in Yangquan and only sent it out from the Taiyuan headquarters yesterday morning, and this news was not kept secret, and it is not surprising that Tubalu knew about it.

However, the specific route is chosen by the escort squadron.

Around Pingxian County, there are many roads.

How did the dirt eight roads know exactly the route taken by the convoy?

Spy in the convoy?

Or rather.

Eight roads have been sending people to track and locate the convoy, and then notify?

That's not right!

Most of the escort squadron was in trucks, and the rest were also cavalry, and the marching speed was very fast, more than ten kilometers per hour, even if the Tuba Road was tracked by cavalry, it was impossible to deliver the message in time.

Naoto Matsuzaki was puzzled.

···

But on the other side.

The commander of the first battalion of the 16th Regiment was smiling.

With the fire support of the artillery platoon of the headquarters, this ambush battle against the devil's convoy completed the task in only fifteen minutes, killed two devil chiefs of staff, and obtained three million silver dollars.

No

It's three million silver dollars per month.

And the casualties were not large.

Seventeen were killed and twenty-five were wounded.

The casualties were much smaller than expected.

"Walkie-talkies are a good thing!"

Glancing at the walkie-talkie behind the communicator behind him, the battalion commander was happy.

Although in this battle, the four 82 mortars of the reinforced artillery platoon of the headquarters, as well as the excess of 500 rounds of 82 mortar shells, were the key to a quick victory.

However, the fundamental reason for the success of the two devil chiefs of staff was the walkie-talkies of the newly equipped troops, which used portable whip-shaped antennas and had a communication distance of more than 20 kilometers.

Relying on cavalry scouts and walkie-talkies, he was able to locate the location of the devil's convoy all the time, so as to complete this rapid ambush battle.

otherwise

Even if it is to come to a headquarters artillery battery, or even an artillery battalion,

I can't find the location of the devil's convoy, and it's also in vain.

"Report to headquarters."

After arriving at a safe position, the commander of the first battalion immediately prepared to report the news of the victory to the headquarters.

Following the order of the commander of the first battalion, a communications soldier took out the reinforced antenna that had been hidden in advance, set it up, adjusted the frequency, and began to report to the headquarters for communications.

···

"Haha..."

"The problem of insufficient funding has been solved."

"The economic operation plan for the southern Hebei base area can be continued."

Five minutes later, the headquarters, the deputy general staff who learned the news, rushed into the headquarters as soon as possible and reported to the deputy general manager.

"Good!"

The deputy boss was overjoyed and issued a series of orders:

"Immediately contact the comrades in the southern Hebei base area and let them let go of their hands and feet and start working."

"And."

"Didn't the underground party comrades of the Beijing Review find a channel to buy steel pipe extruders, stamping machines, and generators?"

"Let them buy it with their hands and feet."

"It doesn't matter if the price is a little higher, you can even take the initiative to raise the price and give the businessman a little sweetness, so that they know that there is money to be made by cooperating with us, so that we can buy better things."

"To build an arsenal, we also need welding equipment and small-scale steelmaking equipment, which can only be purchased from abroad."

"Anyway..."

"In the future, if the troops don't have enough funds, let's kill a few devils and the chief of staff to earn some money."

"Those who apply for funds, as long as they are not deliberately wasteful and corrupt, will be approved, but corruption must also be strictly investigated.

"It will be rolled out in all base areas."

Based on the principle of doing everything he could, and on the grounds of preventing waste, Grand Master Li drafted a copy of the regulations on the management of the use of funds formulated in light of the situation in the base area to the auditors sent by the system master.

System, no need to doubt.

Although it is impossible to eradicate corruption, this regulation also greatly stops waste, deters corruption, and can detect corruption of funds in time to prevent the problem from expanding.

After the local test at the headquarters, it was found that the effect was excellent, so I used it directly.

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."

The Deputy General Staff immediately arranged for implementation.

···

Compared with the joy of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.

In the headquarters of the First Army, there was a lot of mourning.

"Yaga."

"Can anyone give me an explanation."

"Why did the chief of staff of my First Army, and the deputy chief of staff, break in Yangquan again?"

"And."

"Why, Tubalu suddenly launched an attack on the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff of the First Army?"

Yamamoto Kazuki, the head of intelligence of the First Army, and a group of intelligence officers under his command were called, and then the commander of the 29th Brigade in Yangquan was called Kotani Matsuhara.

Yoshio Shinozuka couldn't help but scold.

The katana in his hand seemed to have the urge to unsheath it again.

"General."

After a period of silence, Kazuki Yamamoto spoke:

"Please allow me to go to Yangquan to investigate."

Telegraphs and telephone calls could convey limited information, but Yamamoto, as a special warfare expert, also discovered Matsuzaki's doubts.

And he also has direct guesses.

This rapid ambush seems to prove that Tubalu has a very strong ability to communicate in real time, much better than the Imperial Locust Army.

"Okay."

Yoshio Shinozuka nodded.

The attitude of the doer-like Yamamoto also made him angry and suppressed a lot.

"Major General Kotani Matsu."

Yoshio Shinozuka picked up the phone in his hand and said to the commander of the 29th Brigade, with a fierce tone:

"You have to fully cooperate with Yamamoto Daisa's investigation."

Yamamoto Kazuki himself is only a big sa, and his interpersonal relationship is very poor, and when he arrives at Yangquan, he must be suppressed by Otani Matsubara, so Shinozuka Yoshio specially warned Kotani Matsubara.

"Hey!"

Cold sweat dripped from Kotani Matsubara's forehead.

The chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff were attacked twice in a row in his jurisdiction, and General Shinozuka estimated that he would be fine, and he had a deep background, but he was a major general, and he really might not be able to withstand it.

(End of chapter)