Before Okamura Neji could calm down from his anger, another radio operator trotted towards him in a hurry.
"Your Excellency, Commander, there is an urgent call from the Shijiazhuang Garrison Headquarters..." The operator was very anxious and gasped for breath before reporting.
"What happened again?" Okamura Neji said with great anger and displeasure.
"The east gate of Shijiazhuang was captured by the Eighth Route Army siege troops..." the radio operator reported in a low voice, then lowered his head, preparing to face the anger from Okamura Neji.
Surprisingly, Okamura Neji did not curse.
Instead, he snatched the telegram from his hand, read it twice in a row, and then slapped the telegram on the table.
Staring with a pair of big red eyes, he gritted his teeth. He was so angry and unwilling that he couldn't curse anyone even if he wanted to.
But the fact that the east gate of Shijiazhuang was breached is an ironclad fact, and no one can change it. What he has to do now is to change the enemy and ourselves, and make the latest adjustments to the battle situation based on the latest battlefield conditions.
Chief of Staff Hiji Okamura Neji was even more anxious and directly expressed his thoughts: "Your Excellency, Commander..."
"Time is getting tighter."
"It will definitely be too late to rely on Taiyuan and Jinan to send troops to reinforce Shijiazhuang. We must consider backup plans..."
"I suggest immediately dispatching troops from Baoding and Xiongxian counties to reinforce Shijiazhuang."
"Although we know that the purpose of the Yizhong Independent Brigade's raid on Shijiazhuang is to force us to mobilize reinforcements from Baoding and Xiongxian County, and take the opportunity to eliminate the reinforcements outside the city, achieving the goal of severely damaging the garrisons in Baoding and Xiongxian County."
"But in order to protect Shijiazhuang, we can't control that much."
"I would rather risk losing Baoding to defend Shijiazhuang."
"Besides, if we send troops to reinforce, we won't necessarily lose Baoding."
"The Eighth Route Army in Yizhong has a total of two main brigades. One brigade went to Shijiazhuang, and the other brigade stayed in the base area. No matter whether we reinforce Shijiazhuang or attack the east and west, and force the independent brigade to meet by raiding the base area of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, the only opponent we face is the last time.
Half of the big sweep.”
"As long as we can seize the initiative on the battlefield and catch the Eighth Route Army off guard, we may not be the ones who fail in the end. Please tell me, Commander."
Okamura Neiji was very clear about the chief of staff’s proposals and analysis.
But he had suffered too many losses at the hands of the Yizhong Eighth Route Army, and it could be said that he had lost all face. Every time he thought that his opponent was the Yizhong Eighth Route Army, he couldn't help feeling embarrassed.
Whenever possible, before he was absolutely sure, he would try his best not to fight with the Yizhong Eighth Route Army.
Because no one knows whether the Yizhong Eighth Route Army has hidden tricks and secrets that no one knows about.
If he were to be tricked, he would suffer another defeat just like the previous raid.
By then, not only will Shijiazhuang be unable to be defended, but the reinforcements sent to Shijiazhuang from Hexiong County, Baoding, will also have accidents.
After something happens to the reinforcements, the garrison in Baoding and Xiong County will be reduced sharply, which will lead to the two counties being captured by the Yizhong Eighth Route Army.
This is the true meaning of losing your wife and losing your troops.
Now that the war situation has changed, even though he was reluctant to face the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, the matter was now at this point. Apart from deploying troops in Baoding and Xiongxian to reinforce Shijiazhuang, he could not think of any other way to break the situation.
But the specific method of deploying troops, how to deploy them, and whether the reinforcements should go directly to reinforce Shijiazhuang, or whether they should go east and west to raid the Yizhong base area, all need to be considered.
Okamura Neiji returned to the sand table again, his eyes wandering between the 6th Army Division Base Area and Shijiazhuang, unable to make up his mind.
"Your Excellency, Commander, I humbly suggest that the reinforcements go directly to raid the 6th Army Division of Yizhong, and force the Independent Brigade of Yizhong to return to their base area by attacking from the east and west." Deputy Chief of Staff suggested with courage.
Okamura Neji couldn't make a choice. The best way was to listen more to his subordinates' ideas. Maybe he could learn from them and come up with some new ideas that he hadn't thought of before.
Ask directly: "Tell me clearly, why do you think it is better to attack the east and west than to directly reinforce Shijiazhuang?"
"There are two reasons..." the deputy chief of staff replied while thinking.
"The first is that the Yizhong Independent Brigade has set up a dragnet on the only way for the reinforcements to go to Shijiazhuang. Killing the reinforcements now is tantamount to hitting their guns and seeking death."
The chief of staff interrupted before the deputy could continue: "How do you know that the independent brigade in the wing has set up pocket formations on the only way the reinforcements must pass..."
"I remember that the intelligence department did not receive relevant information, and drawing random conclusions without evidence would be alarmist."
The deputy chief of staff seemed to have expected such a question from the chief of staff, and immediately explained: "There is indeed no evidence for Beizi, but Beizi has strong enough reasons to draw this conclusion."
"It was originally thought that the Eighth Route Army attacking Shijiazhuang would be dominated by the Yizhong Independent Brigade. According to the battle report sent by the Shijiazhuang garrison, in addition to using artillery and chariot troops to participate in the battle, the Yizhong Independent Brigade's infantry of nearly 10,000 people has not directly participated in the attack.
"
"It is impossible for such a large number of troops to watch the theater outside Shijiazhuang City. They must have more important tasks to perform."
"Aside from providing reinforcements, I can't think of any other tasks."
"If the real target of the Yizhong Independent Brigade is Shijiazhuang, it will definitely attack it on its own instead of relying on other Eighth Route Army forces."
"In terms of combat effectiveness and equipment level, the Yizhong Independent Brigade should be much higher than other Eighth Route Army units."
"If the Yizhong Independent Brigade is allowed to participate in the siege battle, the price paid by the Eighth Route Army will be much smaller."
"But instead of doing that, they asked the Independence Brigade to stay aside and rest."
The chief of staff did not answer, but he already agreed with his deputy's analysis. He stared at him and continued to ask: "What about the second reason?"
The deputy chief of staff grabbed the baton and pointed at the only way to reinforce Shijiazhuang from Baoding: "This reason has something to do with the march route."
"Shijiazhuang is just that big. If we want to reinforce Shijiazhuang, we can only take one or two roads there."
"As long as the Yizhong Independent Brigade deploys heavy troops on the road or prepares several pocket formations, the reinforcements will not only be unable to reach Shijiazhuang, but may also fall into it themselves."
"The Sixth Army Division in the Assault Wing is different."
"We have many roads that can lead directly to the location of their military division headquarters. The only brigade in the wing that is left behind in the base area cannot make arrangements in advance without locking our specific march route."
"If they choose to divide their forces to defend each road, we can concentrate our superior forces to defeat them one by one, and the combat pressure on the troops will definitely be much less."
"If you're lucky, you might be able to fight a few battles of annihilation in the Yizhong base area."
"More importantly: we are very familiar with the terrain of the Sixth Army Division in the Wing."
"Although we failed in the previous large-scale raids, we have also figured out the terrain of the Sixth Army Division in the Wing. In case of an accident during the raid, it will be easier for the troops to break out and retreat."
