Chapter 49

"The Twenty-seventh Division was defeated?"

Taiyuan.

Yoshio Shinozuka's eyes widened.

A few days ago, although the flag of the Sakata United was captured by the Tsuchibaji, the losses were not large, and only a few hundred people were killed or wounded.

Why did all of a sudden, he retreat?

"What happened?"

Yoshio Shinozuka asked.

"According to the 27th Division's emergency telegram."

The staff officer replied:

"Early this morning, the Eighth Route Army used more than 50 large-caliber heavy artillery pieces to carry out a large-scale artillery bombardment of the 27th Division's regimental station, which lasted for two hours, and it is estimated that more than 30,000 heavy artillery shells were fired."

"More than 30,000 heavy artillery shells!"

Yoshio Shinozuka's face was solemn.

He knew that because the Sakata Wing flag had been taken away, the 27th Division was stationed near a road, and the longitudinal axis of the station was 10 kilometers long.

And the various wings are stationed in a centralized manner.

More than fifty heavy mortars.

This equates to five gates per kilometer.

30,000 shells.

Almost every locust army had a shell weighing fifteen kilograms dropped.

Even during the Songhu War, the firepower of the locust army was not so large.

No, it's far inferior.

You must know that these 30,000 shells fell within two hours and were concentrated in the station of a small division.

Throughout the history of the Locust Army,

There is also no such huge firepower.

Only the navy, dispatching the main fleet, can have such a firepower projection,

"What about the casualties?"

Yoshio Shinozuka asked.

"Because the troops are too concentrated, the casualties are about a full formation!"

The staff officer replied.

"Three thousand eight hundred casualties."

Yoshio Shinozuka muttered to himself.

One wing, that is, three thousand eight hundred people.

Although 30,000 shells were terrible, 3,800 casualties, that is, eight shells killed and injured a locust army.

This casualty is too great!

No.

Long-range large-scale artillery strikes, the actual lethal effect is not good.

The reason is that the 27th Division is stationed too densely, and a few days ago, the 386th Brigade of the Tuba Road put up a defensive position, which is a precautionary position, and mistakenly thought that the Tuba Road would not attack.

But I didn't expect it to be a large-scale shelling.

"30,000 shells!"

Then, Yoshio Shinozuka sat down on the ground and let out a long sigh.

The 27th Division swept for nearly a month, spending a lot of manpower and material resources, resulting in the Taihang area and the southern Hebei region seizing a large amount of territory, but not only failed to find the transportation channel of the Tuba Road.

Now the Eighth Route Army is getting stronger and stronger.

Fifty heavy guns.

30,000 shells.

And maneuverability is high.

With such firepower, it is fully equipped with the strength to fight in the field with the locust army in complex terrain.

Unconsciously, Tubalu has grown into a great enemy of the locust army.

Even, more troublesome than preserved fruits.

Because this army almost completely does not have the possibility of compromise with the locust army, the position of the two sides, without any possibility of peace talks, is doomed to your death.

What's more troublesome is that

The strength of this force seems to be growing rapidly.

And the ceiling seems to be extremely high.

"Pick me up General Tada."

Yoshio Shinozuka's tone became more and more solemn.

This is no longer a law and order issue.

Big trouble!

···

"The Twenty-seventh Division was defeated?"

At the same time, Tada Jun also received news from the front.

At first, Tada was unconvinced.

Or don't believe it.

He couldn't imagine it.

The 27th Division is a regular field division of the Empire, and it can fight the elite troops of the Locust Army on a frontal battlefield against twice the enemy army itself, rather than a garrison force.

How could there be a sudden retreat?

"Fifty heavy guns, thirty thousand shells."

The follow-up information made Tada Jun completely silent.

At this moment, Tada Jun also understood that Tubalu had the strength to confront the locust army head-on.

Then he fell into a long silence.

"I see."

After a long time, Tada waved his hand and motioned for his men to leave.

The tone is full of decay.

He served as commander of the North China Front for more than a year.

When he first took office, he was full of spirit and vowed to solve the law and order problem in North China in one fell swoop.

During this period, the area of the so-called base area of Tuba Road decreased, the size of the troops decreased, and the strength dropped significantly.

But all of a sudden, an outside force came,

gave a large amount of material and ammunition assistance to Tubalu, so that he fell short, and even had the strength to fight head-on with the locust army.

With the strength shown by Tubalu in the Taiyue Mountains at this time, if you want to annihilate it, you need the strength of two divisions, that is, more than 50,000 imperial troops, but the problem is that in the south, the Battle of Zaoyi has just ended, and the materials are exhausted.

In the near future, the locust army simply did not have the ability to organize a large-scale offensive.

It will be at least mid-September before we can stock up on enough supplies.

More than a month later, what will happen to the dirt road?

The more he thought about it, the heavier Tada's heart became.

"Give me a call to the Dispatch Command."

Helpless, Tada Jun could only connect the phone from the higher headquarters.

···

"Block the news immediately."

"Externally, the sweep was a success."

"Mobilize locust army-controlled newspapers and vigorously propagate them."

"It is important to emphasize that we have completely destroyed more than 2 million mu of land in the Taiyue base area, as well as more than 100,000 houses."

"At the same time, vigorously block the newspapers that hit the dirt eight roads."

Shunroku Hata deserves to be the commander of the dispatch army.

Although it was equally shocked, even unbelievable, the decision was made quickly and calmly.

It's not terrible to lose.

If you fail once, you can learn your lesson and fight back next time.

The terrible thing is the aftermath of losing.

Once this matter spreads, it will not only greatly damage the prestige of the Locust Army, but also greatly enhance the prestige of Tubalu, attracting a large number of people to join them.

and

Tempted a large number of the men to rebel against the locust army.

Serious impact on law and order.

"Hey!"

Tada quickly recovered from his panic and began to arrange.

"That Taiyue Mountain..."

Tada Jun finally asked.

“····”

At this point, Shunroku Hatatake also fell silent.

A division was repulsed.

Although there were some unexpected factors, such as the 27th Division's strength was too concentrated and things were too sudden, if it had been prepared, the 27th Division would not have been defeated so badly.

Won't even lose.

But these cannot be denied, with 50 heavy artillery pieces and a large number of shells, the Taiyue Mountains of Tuba Road have the strength to fight head-on with a second-class division of the Locust Army.

If you want to destroy this gang, you must use more than two divisions.

Although the mechanized division of the first class, such as the fifth division, is stronger, it is impossible to defeat two of the enemy compared to the second division, and the mechanized division cannot enter the mountainous area to fight.

He didn't know what to do for a while.

He knows.

Despite the outflow of large quantities of weapons, law and order in North China has become increasingly bad, requiring a large number of troops to maintain a large cage.

I want to draw two divisions,

Only from the south or from the north can be transferred.

Don't think about it in the north.

The Kwantung Army could not move, and the troops stationed in Mongolia were powerless.

In the south, it is no problem to transfer one or even two divisions, but with the mobilization of troops and materials, it will take about two months.

In just half a year,

Once a brigade was helpless,

The strength has increased to the point that it can repel a locust division head-on and annihilate the strength of the Imperial Wing many times.

In the case of the Eight Roads of the Earth, the longer the strength, the faster.

What will happen to the strength in two months?

···

The devil is so anxious that he doesn't know what to do.

But the fighters and civilians in the base areas were happy.

"The devil has retreated!"

Taiyue base area.

When the devils withdrew from the mountains, the whole army erupted in enthusiastic shouts.

Not just every soldier,

Even the division commanders, brigade commanders, and regimental commanders.

Even, the commanders of the divisions and brigades were even happier and more excited than the soldiers.

Because this battle means that the troops will defeat the devil sweep blockade head-on for the first time, and it also means that from now on, in the face of the devil sweep, they can block it head-on and completely block the devil from the base area.

Then, continue to hoard strength.

You can launch a counteroffensive.

Hopefully!

"What about Xinhua News Agency?"

"Let the newspapers publicize it, and it must be vigorously promoted."

"And the construction process."

"The devils will definitely publicize their destruction of our base areas, so we will publicize the construction and let the people take a look, and we will repair as much as the devils destroy."

Brigade headquarters, the order was given.

···

"Count casualties."

"Count the property losses of ordinary people."

"All property damage."

"The water source must be solved as soon as possible."

While the soldiers were happy, Li Yunlong quickly began to count the losses.

Although the loss can be reimbursed.

However, the fact that ordinary people do not have houses to live in, food and drink is also a problem that cannot be ignored and must be solved immediately.

The house is simple.

The wooden planks and wooden beams reimbursed by Brother Lu have mortise and tenon joints and claw nails, which can be built directly.

And what modular design was used.

Skilled soldiers, a platoon of fighters, can build a dozen or so rooms a day.

There is no need to worry about food.

Each family can send a few hundred catties to the emergency, and it can also eliminate the nervousness, and then slowly count the reimbursement - Brother Lu said that he has prepared enough food, and more than 100,000 tons have already arrived in the warehouse.

More than 100,000 tents were prepared, as well as daily necessities such as pots and pans.

But water is a nuisance.

Taiyue base area, although part of it is in the dense forest, but also part of it is in the loess area, and the northwest of Shanxi, here is a perennial lack of water, very arid, and this time the devil not only destroyed all the fields, but also destroyed the water source.

"Water source."

Li Yunlong suddenly thought of the water in the list of supplies.

In Brother Lu's list, water can be provided.

He had always wondered that the water was going to be put in the warehouse, so he didn't pay attention to it, but now in this situation, he can really only rely on Brother Lu to transport water to solve the problem.

That's right

And that printing press.

Li Yunlong thought of it again, the honest printing press he buried in the ground of Yang Village, as well as the inferior paper, and the diluted ink of one to one hundred with water—the kind where one pound of ink was mixed with one hundred pounds of water.

Li Yunlong decisively turned on the communicator.

The photo he was about to take of the brigade commander being beaten by the division commander was developed and given a copy to the division commander, and then Li Yunlong fell into deep thought - do you want to give the brigade commander a copy too?

···

Following.

The edge of the base area in southern Hebei.

The next day, the 27th Division of the Locust Army swept the Taiyue Mountains with great success, destroying 2 million acres of fields, water sources, and more than 100,000 houses.

But he didn't say a word about the heavy casualties on his side and the capture of a wing's flag.

However, there is also a preventive shot and patch.

At the end, it was also explained that do not believe the false propaganda of Tubalu, and the so-called seizure of the wing flag is all false.

The role of public opinion is enormous.

With the circulation of the devil's newspaper, the southern Hebei region fell into a kind of panic.

Although the new Hebei currency has completely conquered the market,

The joint currency issued by the devil and the puppet army has fallen again and again,

Not only in the border areas of the base, but even the puppet army has begun to use the southern Hebei currency, and the devil is estimated to be soon.

The market input of 200 tons of grain per day has actually stabilized the grain market a little, but with the spread of the newspaper Devil, more than 2 million acres of land have been destroyed, and natural disasters have occurred everywhere this year.

Suddenly

Overnight, food prices skyrocketed by 50 percent.

The price of ordinary miscellaneous grains is the same as that of high-quality grains sold in the base areas.

"It's not good."

···

Southern Hebei Base Area.

Inside the conference room.

An officer, speaking to the head of economic operations, reported:

"Today, not only are grain prices soaring, but a large number of businessmen have begun to stock grain on a large scale, including some landlords in the base areas, who are also stockpiling grain."

"Those landlords?"

A member of the military who attended the meeting flashed sharply:

"Do you want to..."

"No!"

The person in charge of economic warfare waved his hand and said:

"Increase the amount of grain that is put into the market every day to 300 tons."

"The price remains the same, but the purchase is limited."

"Everyone is only allowed to buy three catties a day, and then recruit workers to build a mountain horse road from the southern Hebei region to the Taihang region."

When the devil was staring at the Taiyue base area.

The Taihang Base Area, in conjunction with the Southern Hebei Base Area, organized the main force, completely opened up the transportation channel between the two base areas, and completely mastered and eliminated the surrounding devils.

But with more and more supplies being transported every month, coupled with the harassment of devils, this transportation road is somewhat more than enough, and it needs to be widened and built with fortifications and bunkers.

"As for the landlords who are stockpiling grain, let them be tuned."

The person in charge of economic warfare snorted coldly.

He had just been with the headquarters by electricity.

Although the Taiyue base area suffered heavy losses, it not only received an economic emergency of 100,000 tons of grain, but also reimbursed more than 200,000 tons of grain for losses.

With such a large scale of food,

He wants to let these profiteers lose all their money.

just right

It is also necessary to take advantage of this opportunity to clean up the old wealth of some landlords who control land in the base areas.

Although the work of rent reduction and interest reduction has been promoted, after all, the land capital is still controlled by the landlords, and the people's productive forces have not been released.

But now...

"Inform the banks that starting today, the mortgage loans on the fields will be completely opened."

With a smirk, the head of the economic warfare issued a new order.

This time, he wants to use economic means to return all the land to the people, so that the people in southern Hebei can have fields to plant.

(End of chapter)