The radio operator suddenly rushed to Major General Fujita with a look of excitement on his face.
"An urgent call from the Front Army Headquarters..."
"The troops that have entered the Eighth Route Army base area in Yizhong have begun to divide their forces to carry out sabotage. The problem of insufficient strength of the Eighth Route Army's remaining troops has been exposed."
"If the Yizhong Eighth Route Army wants to reduce losses and casualties, it can only transfer troops from the front line of Shijiazhuang back to the base area to support them."
"Commander Gangcun judged that the Eighth Route Army's independent brigade will evacuate Shijiazhuang this evening at the latest and requires us to hold on and be ready for a counterattack at any time!"
"Once the Independent Brigade evacuates Shijiazhuang, it will immediately launch a counterattack against the Eighth Route Army staying behind in Shijiazhuang and kill them..."
"The troops we lost in the Shijiazhuang city defense battle cannot be lost in vain!"
"Even if the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong cannot be eliminated for the time being, we must vent our anger on the other Eighth Route Army first..."
Major General Fujita took the telegram and read it carefully before laughing. Then he ordered the chief of staff beside him: "Let the reserve team be ready to fight immediately..."
"Reconnaissance troops and intelligence personnel closely monitor the movements of the Eighth Route Army inside and outside the city, and report any situation immediately..."
"Especially the independent brigade outside the city that has not yet participated in the war, I will keep a close eye on it..."
…………
"Stop attacking..."
In a courtyard in the east of Shijiazhuang City, the company commander suddenly shouted to his subordinates.
"Company commander...the soldiers are becoming more and more courageous as they fight. How come they are fighting well and suddenly stop fighting!" The instructor was in the middle of fighting when he suddenly heard the order to stop the attack and couldn't help but ask.
"The superiors have a new plan..." the company commander said with a mysterious face, and then ordered the deputy company commander on the side: "Have all the squad and platoon leaders come to me to meet up, and the speed must be fast..."
"The superior leader came up with a new strategy to deal with the remnants of the Japanese and puppet troops in the city."
"If we fight well, we can severely damage the remaining Japanese and puppet troops in the city in one battle."
…………
Outside Shijiazhuang, the 2nd and 3rd regiments of the Independent Brigade were rapidly gathering.
The heavy artillery regiment and the mountain field artillery unit were not idle either, and hung the artillery on the transport vehicles in an orderly manner.
There were soldiers who moved the unfired shells back to the carriage.
The tank troop station not far away was also busy.
There are chariot drivers who are inspecting the chariots to ensure that they do not break down on the next march, and there are soldiers who are replenishing the chariots with fuel and ammunition...
At seven o'clock in the evening, after it was completely dark, the Second Regiment of the Independent Brigade was the first to leave the station, fully armed and marching towards the base area.
Nearly three thousand soldiers had just finished walking, and the tank troops and heavy artillery troops followed them in a mighty manner...
After more than a hundred vehicles and armored vehicles transporting artillery and ammunition, the independent brigade guard battalion, supply camp, and the third regiment... left the station one after another...
Because there were too many troops and heavy equipment, it took a full hour for the independent brigade to disappear outside Shijiazhuang City with an endless line of troops.
On the battlefield of street fighting in the city,
Groups of Eighth Route Army troops also quickly retreated outside the city carrying light and heavy machine guns and mortars.
Due to the chaotic fighting between the enemy and ourselves in the city, the troops of both sides have been intertwined in many places. We are among you, and you are among me. They are still very scattered.
Faced with the Eighth Route Army that was quickly withdrawing from the street fighting battlefield, no one knew how many people there were in the Eighth Route Army who had withdrawn, and whether there were any ambush troops or rear-guard troops left on the battlefield.
Anyway, there are figures of retreating Eighth Route Army troops everywhere.
He carried the weapons and ammunition he had captured on the battlefield and carried the wounded very quickly, without giving the Japanese and puppet troops any time to react or counterattack.
…………
The news quickly reached Major General Fujita.
"General...the humble position has been confirmed again and again...the main force of the independent brigade in the wing has evacuated Shijiazhuang!" The chief of staff reported to Major General Fujita while looking through the telegrams and intelligence in his hand, with a very determined expression.
"The tank troops, heavy artillery troops, and mountain artillery troops they brought... were all withdrawn."
"The entire retreating force stretched for five kilometers, and it took an hour before they all evacuated the battlefield and disappeared outside Shijiazhuang City."
"At present, they have withdrawn to ten kilometers northeast of Shijiazhuang..."
"Even if this is their conspiracy to make us relax our vigilance and kill us, it will still take more than two hours to return to the battlefield."
"This time is enough for us to deal with any accidents that happen in the city..."
As soon as the chief of staff finished speaking, a lieutenant ran in from outside, with an excited face and a smile on his lips and reported: "Your Excellency, Commander..."
"The Eighth Route Army that was fighting with us in street fighting in Shijiazhuang City also began to retreat..."
"Quickly break away from the battle with the captured weapons and ammunition and the lightly and seriously wounded, evacuate the battlefield, and are marching in a hurry to assemble in the direction of the city gate..."
"80% of them want to run away!"
Major General Fujita suddenly became relaxed, and the burden that had been weighing on his shoulders for several days completely disappeared at this moment.
Immediately asked: "Have all the Eighth Route Army troops who fought street battles with us withdrew, or have they only withdrawn part of the participating troops and left some troops behind to continue to confront us!"
The lieutenant hesitated and reported: "They should all be withdrawn..."
"The city is full of retreating Eighth Route Army troops, with a total strength of at least three to four thousand people..."
Major General Fujita was obviously very dissatisfied with this answer. He frowned and asked, "What do you mean should..."
"What I need is a definite answer, not your guess..."
The chief of staff found him in time and explained: "General, calm down..."
"In order to weaken our advantage in street fighting, the Eighth Route Army dispersed its troops to attack us in squads and platoons... As a result, the enemy and ourselves were fighting together, and the teams were very scattered."
"After receiving the retreat order, these teams must have dispersed and retreated from the yards where they attacked, and then regrouped at the city gate or outside the city..."
"It is indeed very difficult for our troops to count their true strength in the chaos."
"If the total strength of the opponent's retreating troops exceeds 3,000, I believe that the Eighth Route Army that was fighting with us in street battles should have withdrawn. Even if the rear troops are left, they are just guard posts and will not pose any threat to us."
Major General Fujita was afraid of being beaten. Although what the Chief of Staff said was conclusive, he would definitely not issue a combat order directly based on just one sentence from the Chief of Staff without concrete evidence.
Staring at the chief of staff and asking: "What is the basis for your judgment?"
"I want concrete evidence, not speculation!"
The chief of staff thought while replying: "There are a total of four main regiments of the Eighth Route Army that entered the city to fight with us in street battles... General, you know this."
"These Eighth Route Army are different from the Yizhong Eighth Route Army. Each main regiment only has about 1,500 people, adding up to a total of 6,000 people."
"Even if they didn't suffer too many casualties during the siege, 6,000 troops entered Shijiazhuang to fight in the streets."
"In the ensuing artillery counterattack, we killed at least more than a thousand Eighth Route Army troops. In the subsequent melee, we killed more than a thousand Eighth Route Army troops. At most, they still have more than 3,000 people left..."
