I have never eaten pork and I have seen pigs running away.
The chief of staff immediately recognized the forward captain's analysis and immediately ordered: "Then why are you still standing there..."
"Hurry up and let a few mortar squadrons fight back..."
"The Eighth Route Army has mortars, and so do we. Not only are they more numerous, but their caliber is also larger..."
Regrettably: before the chief of staff's order to counterattack reached the mortar squadrons scattered in the team, the rain of shells from the sky stopped.
Take a look around: There are corpses of soldiers killed by bombings everywhere along the highway, wounded people screaming, and broken limbs and arms...
Horrible!
"Boom boom boom..."
It was only then that the mortar squadron closest to the Chief of Staff began to fight back. The shells roared out and hit the Bao Valley more than a thousand meters away, raising a large amount of black smoke...
The chief of staff turned red with anger and roared loudly: "Bagya Road..."
"The Eighth Route Army artillerymen who attacked us just now have all fled. What's the use of firing back now? Is it a waste of shells?"
"Have the artillery squadron stop..."
"If we encounter an artillery attack by the Eighth Route Army during the next march, we can directly fire back without waiting for orders..."
"Let the troops rescue the wounded immediately and count the losses, quickly..."
After a while, another captain of the reinforcements ran towards him and reported solemnly: "Sir... the casualties have been counted... a little big..."
The chief of staff asked directly: "How much is it specifically? Tell me directly, I can hold it..."
"Ha Yi..." The captain could only answer bravely.
"In the artillery raid just now, we killed a total of 327 people and seriously injured 82 people, most of them were imperial troops. This is equivalent to killing two entire infantry squadrons without even seeing the Eighth Route Army guerrilla brigade...
"
"idiot……"
The chief of staff couldn't hold it back for a moment and started swearing again.
"The guerrilla brigade is indeed very cunning...it caused so much damage to us with only a few hundred rounds of artillery shells without a single casualty. It's so irritating."
"I must find them and cut them into pieces."
"Pass my order. The troops will continue to advance with the wounded. They will retake Fangshan County first and leave the wounded in Fangshan County. We will continue to pursue the guerrilla brigade."
The captain of the forward brigade immediately stood up and reminded: "Sir, didn't you just say that division of troops is the most taboo against the Eighth Route Army?"
"If we leave the wounded in Fangshan County, we will definitely send troops to defend Fangshan County. This will mean dividing our troops."
"If the guerrilla brigade takes advantage of the main force's withdrawal from Fangshan and kills Fangshan County, our troops and wounded who stayed behind in Fangshan will definitely suffer a devastating blow."
"Shut up..." the chief of staff cursed angrily.
"Under normal circumstances, I certainly don't want to divide our troops to fight if we can."
"But isn't there nothing we can do now?"
"If we don't keep the wounded in Fangshan County for treatment, it's hard for us to march with them."
"The guerrilla brigade advanced lightly and the troops marched very fast."
"We marched with seventy or eighty wounded people. No matter how fast we marched, we couldn't match the marching speed of the Eighth Route Army. How could we hunt them down and eliminate them?"
"But your reminder just now is not wrong."
"The guerrilla brigade is very cunning and has an endless supply of various combat methods. If we leave the wounded in Fangshan, there is a real possibility that they will kill us."
"In this case, then I will give them a trick to catch the turtle in the jar..."
The chief of staff did not say how he planned to catch the enemy in the urn, nor how he planned to exploit it.
Although several captains were very itchy, the rank of Chief of Staff was there, so even if they were bold enough, they would not dare to question him.
We can only take the troops and continue on the road to Fangshan County...
…………
Soon the top of Fangshan City came into view of the Japanese army.
The city gates were wide open and the top of the city was empty. The chief of staff's first reaction was that the Eighth Route Army attacking Fangshan County had fled. Fangshan County in front of him was probably an empty city.
But he did not immediately lead his troops into Fangshan.
Although there was only one sneak attack by the guerrilla brigade along the way, this sneak attack left an unforgettable impression on the Chief of Staff.
The guerrilla brigade is too cunning, and no one knows whether there is a murderous intention hidden in the seemingly empty Fangshan County.
If he were not prepared and rushed in hastily, he might even lose his life in the city.
He directly ordered with a cautious expression: "The forward brigade will dispatch a squadron, and the Imperial Association Army will dispatch a battalion. Immediately enter the city to confirm whether there is any Eighth Route Army in the city."
"If there is no danger, we will enter the city again..."
For more than five hundred days, the puppet army marched into Fangshan...
Ten minutes passed, and not a single gunshot was heard in the city...
Twenty minutes have passed, and there is still no sound of fighting in the city...
The tense nerves of the chief of staff gradually relaxed over time, and then he saw two messengers running towards him in a hurry.
Before he could stand still, he reported with a smile: "Sir..."
"We searched the whole city but couldn't find the Eighth Route Army..."
"The main force can enter the city..."
"The wing headquarters in the city has not been damaged either..."
Looking at the sky slowly darkening above his head, the chief of staff no longer hesitated and ordered decisively: "Enter the city..."
"The Second Squadron and the Second Regiment of the Imperial Association Army are responsible for defending the city, patrolling and guarding, and all other troops are stationed at the original Fangshan garrison..."
"Everyone have a good rest tonight. We will go out of the city early tomorrow morning to search for the main force of the guerrilla brigade and fight them decisively..."
…………
At eight o'clock in the evening, the chief of staff reviewed his tasks for the day as usual to see if there was anything he had missed.
Now that he is performing combat missions, there are no complicated matters like the headquarters, and there are many fewer issues to consider.
But the battle before us is not easy either.
Although he has not yet officially fought against the guerrilla brigade, their slap in the face today still made him laugh, making him realize that the guerrilla brigade is a very difficult opponent.
The decisive battle that followed was not as simple as he thought at the North China Front Army Headquarters.
If not, you might get caught in this military operation.
For the sake of his own future, he had to be cautious.
Lie down on the table and study the map, analyzing the possible hiding places of the guerrilla brigade.
Intelligence showed that they had not retreated back to the mountains, which meant that the guerrilla brigade was lurking in Fangshan, perhaps hiding under their noses and emerging at any time to give them a fatal attack.
It would be great if I could find the hiding place of the guerrilla brigade in advance and lead my troops to fight there directly after dawn for a decisive battle.
But Fangshan is not a small town, and the surrounding terrain is complex. Especially the large area in the west close to the mountains, let alone the guerrilla brigade with only two or three thousand people, even ten thousand of them can easily hide in it.
