Chapter 23: The knife is unsheathed and the arrow is on the string

"Kun Hashimoto, you and I are now like squirrels on a fire. If you are not careful, you can only use caesarean section to thank His Majesty for your trust." Kazuki Kiyoshi summarized the battle reports over the past few days and said to his chief of staff.

Hashimoto Qun thought for a while before slowly looking up, "Commander, we still have a chance, and the situation is not as difficult as you think."

"Oh, a turnaround, is there a turnaround?" Kiyoshi Katsuki murmured to himself. After all, his career as a military leader was longer than Hashimoto Qun, and his tactical attainments were not comparable to Hashimoto Qun.

"Your Excellency Commander, look, the attack of the 5th Division of our army is still smooth now. It has already conquered the Nankou, the military key area after Juyongguan. Then the 5th Division drew the 9th Brigade and delivered the 1st Tank Battalion to the 9th Brigade, commanded by Major General Guoqideng, formed the Guoqi Detachment and evacuated the Huailai battlefield. The 21st Brigade will turn the attack into defense. It will completely block the Chinese reinforcements in Shanxi and Suiyuan." Hashimoto was gestured on the map with confidence, and he had blind confidence in the 5th Division.

"Kun Hashimoto, do you think a 21st Brigade can withstand the most elite 100,000 troops in the Chinese team?" Kazuki Kiyoshi asked with a ugly face. He wanted to know whether his chief of staff was a spy, and even such a ridiculous plan could be thought of.

"One hundred thousand top team? Or elite? Commander, I don't understand how many soldiers there are in the North China battlefield that are the opponents of our Emperor team." Hashimoto couldn't understand the defense of the 13th Army. Under the attack of the 5th Division, it almost used the lives of soldiers to defend it. There is a premise. How many soldiers' blood can Tang Enbo flow?

Xiangyue Qingsi covered her head with a headache and thought, is the empire really so blind?

Even Major General Hashimoto, who was on the front line of the battlefield, blindly thought that there was no opponent of the imperial elite division in North China at all?

"You have to know that the target of Wei Lihuang's attack on the 14th Army is not clear at all, especially the main forces in the 14th Army, the 10th Division, 83rd Division, and 85th Division have not yet entered the battlefield. Do you think Wei Lihuang is a lonely person?" Xiangyue Qingshi's high evaluation of Wei Lihuang is actually because Wei Lihuang is able to endure so much when he has an elite force, which makes him very worried.

"The commander's meaning, Wei Lihuang will have big moves next." Hashimoto said disapprovingly. In his mind, Wei Lihuang was a scared coward and had retreated in the face of the powerful imperial army.

This stems from a very common habit in the Chinese team, which is to preserve strength.

There was no trace of anger on Xiangyue Qingsi's old-fashioned face, but he could no longer help it. He picked up the command knife and pointed to three places on the map on the table.

Zhoukoudian, Liangxiang, Changxindian.

"Don't you understand that we have been dragged into a huge conspiracy by the Chinese team. Although this conspiracy seems like a coincidence on the surface, in fact, it is what the opponent guides us step by step." Kazuki Kiyoshi sighed heavily and sat back on the chair in the war room again powerlessly.

The 5th Division, the 6th Division, and the 20th Division, which had only half of the people, have been paying attention to the legendary unit in the China ** team - the 40th Army.

"Is the 40th Army just a bait that attracts us?" Hashimoto Qun was sweating coldly after hearing Kazuki Kiyoshi's words. It was so terrible. The opponent's insight was simply dispersed his troops without realizing it.

"Especially, before this bait appeared, we were attracted by it." Kazuki Kiyoshi said worriedly: "And, the 40th Army is not a real bait, but a tiger going down the mountain."

But who would have thought that although the 40th Army would play a very important role in Zeng Yiyang's plan, its biggest role would be to confuse the Japanese army.

Are the Northeast Army's 200,000 troops, the Central Army's 13th, 17th and 14th Army really useless?

In the final analysis, it is because it has not played its strengths, and the Japanese army has easily played their strengths and has been in a passive situation of being beaten. As long as they can distract their attention, the only 100,000 Japanese troops will be divided little by little, and their respective troops and firepower will be further dispersed.

Unless the Japanese army abandoned one or two of the divisions, they would even disperse the air force.

In this way, the Chinese team, which has an absolute advantage in military strength, will further reduce the pressure faced by them, and their respective battle results will naturally increase.

Just like Sun Dianying's New 5th Army, it was able to divide and surround a large group of Japanese troops and annihilate most of them. It achieved the results of annihilation of 600 Japanese troops and 2,300 puppet troops, and it has caused a sensation across the country.

This is Zeng Yiyang, who used elite troops to block the Japanese army's nodes, prevented them from forming a group, besieging one of them, and achieved results. As long as the time is ripe, he would surround a group of Japanese attacking forces and eliminate them as soon as possible.

Xiangyue Qingsi understood that at this time he had lost control of the battlefield in North China. Once Bazhou was lost, Tianjin would be in danger. If the 6th Division guarding Tianjin and the military brigade were dispatched to reinforce Baoding, the result would be that before a large number of local reinforcements arrived, Tianjin would be besieged by the 100,000 CSR team.

A week after the war started, Zhang Xueliang had all three artillery brigades in his hands to the army. It was not uncommon for the 51st Army to have two field artillery regiments.

Of course, the troops of Sun Dianying and Song Zheyuan cannot be compared with the 51st Army, but the total number of troops exceeding 80,000 has become the biggest threat to follow the 51st Army.

With the stimulation of Tianjin's 100,000 tons of military supplies, maybe even if the Sixth Division defends in Tianjin, the Chinese teams would not let go of so many supplies.

"Under the current circumstances, there must be no less than one regiment for the troops in Duliu Town and Langfang. It is not safe to have a division station in Tianjin, including Tangshan, Ninghe and other places. The defense of Peking is particularly important. There is at least one division on the Huailai line. The accident that can occur. Changxindian, Fengtai, and Nanyuan Huangsi need one and a half divisions. If you are preparing to reinforce the 109th Division, then you still need one division. With the total force of less than five main divisions, the attack has become a gambling, which is very dangerous." Xiangyue Qingsi said it was quite tactful, but the meaning was clearer. There was only four divisions in North China, and the entire division was missing.

Moreover, the 109th Division and the 20th Division both need to defend themselves on the ground, so they are one division, but only half of the division.

The Kwantung Army's 1st Brigade, the 2nd Brigade, and the 11th Brigade are all semi-organized brigades, with only less than 5,000 people per brigade.

The gap in military strength has reached the brink of collapse.

"Celebrating help from the local area..." Hashimoto said helplessly, because he knew that the military headquarters was preparing to send three elite divisions of the 10th Division, the 14th Division and the 16th Division to North China. However, even if the mobilization had begun, it would be September when all these troops arrived in North China. It would be too late for a whole month.

Hashimoto was not stupid enough to ask for help from the Kwantung Army. The Kwantung Army's mission was to defend against the Soviet Union. Especially when the Kwantung Army drew a large amount of troops, it would draw troops and even lose its ability to suppress the Northeast's resistance forces.

Not to mention, there is a powerful Soviet Union behind it.

Judging from intelligence, the Soviets had relaxed military trade with Chiang Kai-shek, and a large number of Soviet fighters were transported to Almaty in Moscow in central Asia. Once the details were agreed, these weapons would be sent directly to the inland China and would appear on the battlefield soon.

Such an opponent is indeed the most insidious opponent. Maybe at the most critical moment, he will give the empire a blow.

That night, Lieutenant General Katsuki Kiyoshi and Major General Hashimoto Qun apologized to the Emperor, hoping to return to the local area and commit suicide in front of Emperor Showa to cleanse their failures in North China. In fact, Katsuki Kiyoshi did this and was also a gambler. At least they were defeated after the war, and they were not at risk of being forced to kill them. At most, they were transferred to the reserve service.

Showa was completely panicked and summoned the Prime Minister Duke Mime Mitsuki and the Mainland General Sugiyama Moto, who was about to rush to North China, General Soichi Desouichi, the Minister of the First Division of the General Staff Headquarters, and Kanir Ishihara and others to discuss the major crisis that occurred in North China.

Even Koemi Fumi and others didn't understand why a day ago, Seishiro Itagaki threatened to eliminate the Chinese army's army's troops in three days and open up the railway line from North China to Datong, Shanxi. Why did the situation become so serious after just one day?

The only small figure among the big guys, Ishihara took the map helplessly, not only marked out the situation maps of the two Chinese and Japanese teams. Soon, the attack target of the Chinese team's offensive appeared.

Ishihara Kaner was shocked. The formation that Zeng Yiyang made was not as simple as it seemed.

The First War Zone established in North China is simply impossible to not be known to the Japanese army.

Zhang Xueliang: Only the commander-in-chief of the First War Zone was given mediocrity, and it was prone to errors in large corps operations, and was radical, so it was obviously impossible to set up such an insolvent situation.

Wei Lihuang: Deputy Commander of the First World War Zone, commanded no more than 4 elite divisions, with a total force of only 40,000. In addition, individuals were unable to influence Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army, and the possibility of a battle commander was ruled out.

Song Zheyuan: The newly promoted commander in the War I zone was full of miscellaneous cards and could only be used as a reserve force. Individuals are marginal figures in the Northeast Army Group.

Zeng Yiyang:???

Ishihara understood that Zeng Yiyang was the key to this battle.

Lu Xiangshan Sanyuan looked at Ishihara Kanir's constant busyness, and he also felt the situation. In fact, he issued a mobilization order to the 5th, 6th and 10th Divisions in late July, but only after the first two divisions gathered, the 10th Division in the inland would be able to assemble at least ten days before they could all assemble and board the ship from the local area.

It will happen 20 days later when we arrived in China.

"The 119th Division's 119 Infantry Regiment and 500 cavalry brigade were besieged in Dingzhou, and there were no less than 60,000 Chinese troops attacking them. Among them, the 105th Division was Zhang Xueliang's elite troops, and its equipment was equivalent to that of the 109th Division, and its number was three times that of the 109th Division. In addition, the two cavalry divisions of the Northeast Army blocked the retreat route of the 119th Regiment. It was obviously impossible to break through, so they could only hope for their loyalty to the empire." Shan Sanyuan's words were like a knife, which made Emperor Showa's heart hurt.

"After Baoding's 109th Division lost its peripheral position, it is unlikely to hold on for 7 days without sufficient supply. At that time, Zeng Yiyang's 40th Army will join the battle, and this situation will become even worse." In order to increase his future bargaining chips, Teraunuchi insisted that the 109th Division would die.

"Our North China Army will enter a defensive situation within the next half month, waiting for the local reinforcements to arrive, and look for the Zhong** team to fight for a decisive battle." Soichi Teraunuchi knelt in front of the emperor, clenched his fists while speaking, and said important joints and hit the ground with his fists. Fortunately, the palace is full of wooden structures, and even the ground is covered with thick pine boards, so it won't hurt too much.

This made the two absolutely big names on the side look ugly and a little naughty.

Neither Koemi nor Showa were soldiers, and they had no other way except to believe in Sugi Sanyuan and Sakaichi Desouchi.

Ishihara Kanur glanced at some of the big men around him and found that he had no choice but to speak. Although a major general was carefully pulled out of the bed by the Emperor's guards and sent to the palace, he was just a small person. He was gentle and looked at Soichi Shinosuke not far away. He knew that although this guy was born a noble, he was as difficult as a rogue in the city, especially Soichi Shinosuke, who held a grudge.

Back then, Soichi Deanuchi was the commander of the 4th Division. His subordinates violated traffic rules in Osaka and were detained by the police station. He led a group of soldiers to the police station and smashed everything they could.

Although Ishihara Kanir was very arrogant, he would make his superiors uncomfortable from time to time. For example, Tojo Hideki, he often accused the other party of being a low-class private in front of Tojo. However, facing Soichi Desouchi, he would only face the other party unless he had a brain disease.

As a smart person, Ishihara Kanir would not face Tsaiuchi, a guy with a lack of brain power, otherwise he would die miserably.

However, then Shouichi Tanuchi didn't even pay attention to Ishihara Kanir at all, and completely angered Ishihara.

Ishihara, who stood aside and was idle in contempt, said: "You can go back."

ah--

Ishihara even threw away the joy of being valued at the beginning, but instead knelt down at Emperor Showa with a serious face and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, for the sake of this, we can only let the advance troops of the Kanto Army commanded by Lieutenant General Tojo Hideki, mix the 1st and 2nd brigades, mix the 15th brigades, Di Detachment, and Daquan Detachment give up their attack on Zhangjiakou, transfer from Duolun to Juyongguan, enter Peiping to increase the defense around Peiping, and then free up the 20th Division to attack the flanks of Huailai Zhong ** team, and give up the reinforcements of the 109th Division..."

"Bastard..." Soichi Teruchi stood up and roared loudly, walked to Ishihara and kicked the other party. The young Ishihara was very angry by Soichi Teruchi. At worst, he would not go home in the military headquarters during these days. In two days, Soichi Teruchi will go to China.

Ishihara's whole body was pressing and his shoulders were tense. The Shouichiko's sect kicked Ishihara on his body, and was blocked by a force. The ground was slippery, especially when Shouichiko was older, his legs were not convenient, and Shouichiko suddenly fell down on his back.

It doesn't matter if he fell to the ground. Showa was stunned. Konomi was stunned. Even Shan Sanyuan was stunned. This Shou of Tsunouchi was disrespectful in front of the Emperor. He was so bold that he could still be expected to represent the Emperor in North China to command the battle?

When Ishihara Yasumi fell to the ground in the temple, he resigned from the emperor and turned around and left the palace...

After discussing for a night, Xiangyue Qingsi was not convicted, but the military headquarters encouraged him. However, the Japanese army in North China moved from offense to defense, which was inevitable.

Chiang Kai-shek, who was inspecting the Songhu front line, received a combat plan from the First War Zone. The content of the plan was very simple. The First War Zone had completed the cleaning of the surrounding areas of Baoding, and the 109th Division was surrounded in Baoding City.

Determined to launch a general attack on the 109th Division at dawn on the 26th at the latest.

Although the person who drafted the telegram was the commander of the war zone, Zeng Yiyang's appearance surprised Chiang Kai-shek.

The War Zone was so strange. In the early stage, they kept retreating and helped all Hebei to the Japanese. Seeing that they retreated step by step, the entire Hebei was about to be lost, but a hundred thousand troops surrounded a division of the Japanese army.

The meaning of this is self-evident, and it is precisely to eliminate a Japanese division.

Chiang Kai-shek also knew how many people there were in the 109th Division. There were 9,600 people. It is estimated that there are not so many people yet. It is already good to have 8,000 people in this period of consumption.

Sun Dianying destroyed 600 Japanese troops. In order to increase the confidence of the people, Chiang Kai-shek regarded more than 2,300 puppet troops from both sides as Japanese troops. He added a false head, saying that it was an elite Japanese army corps. 5,000 Japanese troops were eliminated on the front line of Cangzhou.

During these days, Chiang Kai-shek dreamed that he could win a battle and destroy a division of the Japanese army, which was the best.

But in fact, the strongest unit in his hand, the Ninth Army, was unable to recover all the places such as Hongqiao in the face of the 5,000th Japanese army, and completely drove the Japanese army into the sea, which made him very anxious. For this reason, Zhang Zhizhong, the commander of the Ninth Army, was scolded by Chiang Kai-shek several times, but there was no way. The Huangpu River was filled with Japanese gunboats, and the Ninth Army's artillery was against armor-protected warships, and they could not penetrate their defensive armor at all.

The offensive disadvantages have caused continuous casualties, but the battlefield is still in a state of anxiety.

"Ci Xiu, do you think there is hope for success in this combat plan?" Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Cheng who accompanied him.

"Committee, I have studied Zeng Yiyang's character. In terms of ability, Zeng Yiyang has commanded more than 150,000 large corps operations, and his war zone is spread throughout Shaanxi Province. If this plan is done by him, there is a great chance of success." Chen Cheng said Zeng Yiyang without regret.

But he was even more impressed by Zeng Yiyang. Judging from all the signs, Zeng Yiyang's intentions for this combat plan were very obvious. In the end, the one who would benefit was **. This was the terrible thing about the young man who was only over twenty years old.

Finally, Zeng Yiyang was able to use his talents to achieve his goals, but all the troops participating in the war would also thank him. This is what Chen Cheng admired the most.

If ** gets the greatest benefit, especially ** cannot refuse the temptation, the Japanese army will come to ** in the future and have to compare with them. However, if the 40th Army becomes a hero, it is very likely that a unit of 30,000 people will be targeted by the Japanese army in North China. This is Zeng Yiyang's cleverness.

People are afraid of being famous, and pigs are afraid of being strong.

The next day, early in the morning of August 20, newspapers from all over the country reported an exciting news that the 109th Division of the Japanese army was surrounded by our 100,000 troops, and the entire annihilation of this army was just around the corner.
Chapter completed!