The chief of staff immediately answered: "Your Excellency, Commander, is wise... This is indeed the case."
"Two months have passed, and all traces of the Eighth Route Army's activities in Pingquan have disappeared. There are still many places covered by heavy snow, which makes it even harder to find their traces..."
"The Hiraizumi garrison sent many scouts to search around, but found nothing..."
"I couldn't even find the direction of the Eighth Route Army's march after leaving the border..."
Okamura Neiji dropped the report in his hand with a look of despair, and then replied with a long sigh: "There are many mountainous areas in the Northeast..."
"The terrain is complex, very suitable for hiding troops..."
"As long as there is food and there are not too many troops, it will be no problem to sneak into a deep mountain and old forest and hide there for a year or two."
"Furthermore, the Kwantung Army has no experience in fighting guerrilla warfare against the Eighth Route Army, and is not familiar with the Eighth Route Army's combat methods. Finding thousands of Eighth Route Army troops in the vast mountains is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack, which is very difficult."
"But if the Eighth Route Army is not found and eliminated, even if the Kwantung Army takes three months to repair the railway, the Eighth Route Army may come out again at any time and destroy the railway line..."
"The railway lines that the Kwantung Army's reinforcements must pass when moving south are thousands of kilometers long, and most of the railway lines are in mountainous areas. Even if the railway garrison patrols the railway lines 24 hours a day, it will be difficult to be foolproof."
"And as long as one railway line is damaged, the entire railway line will be interrupted. The Kwantung Army's southward reinforcements will not be able to enter North China, and we will be unable to encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army in the center."
"Intelligence shows that the Yizhong Eighth Route Army is using the weapons and ammunition they seized in the battles at Tianjin Pier and Gu'an to greatly expand its troops."
"The main force of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong has been expanded to 15,000 men, and the heavy artillery unit has been expanded to one brigade, which is stronger than our two heavy artillery regiments."
"If they wait until they have trained all these newly expanded troops into an army and formed combat effectiveness, then they will definitely pay a huge price to raid the Eighth Route Army base area in Yizhong."
"And during this period, the Yizhong Eighth Route Army continued to expand its troops."
"Intelligence sent back from the inside by the Super High School showed that the weapons and ammunition in the inventory of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong are enough for them to form an army of 30,000 people."
"And other Eighth Route armies around the Yizhong base area are also seizing the time to expand their troops."
"We have a lot of weapons and ammunition stored at Tianjin Pier. In addition to the weapons and ammunition seized by the Eighth Route Army on the battlefield during a raid on Tianjin Pier, we can use these weapons and ammunition to expand the army by 50,000 or 60,000 people."
"The Yizhong base area has 20,000 to 30,000 elite Eighth Route Army troops, and the surrounding base areas also have an additional 20,000 to 30,000 Eighth Route Army troops. Compared with before, there is no shortage of ammunition."
"Even if all the reinforcements of the Kwantung Army going south are in place, we may not be able to get an advantage if we assemble six main divisions at the same time to launch an attack."
"After all, the Eighth Route Army operating around Yizhong is not a vegetarian. They will definitely not let us easily enter the Yizhong base area. They may even take the initiative to attack us and force us to divide our troops..."
"At that time, the six main divisions of the Eighth Route Army participating in the encirclement and suppression of Yi Zhong will be reduced sharply to three or four."
"And based on what I know about the Yizhong Eighth Route Army, it will definitely be very difficult to completely eliminate them with this small force."
The chief of staff's face became increasingly serious, and he frowned and asked: "It's a pity that the North China Front Army is seriously under-strength..."
"Otherwise we can take the initiative and use the guerrilla warfare that the Eighth Route Army is good at to attack their base areas and harass them so that they have no right to expand their troops."
"Thereby reducing the pressure on the Kwantung Army from encircling and suppressing the Eighth Route Army in the future..."
A glimmer of hope quickly flashed across Okamura Neiji's desperate face, and his eyes lit up as he said: "The North China Front Army really cannot mobilize troops to take the initiative to attack the Eighth Route Army and prevent them from expanding their troops."
"But the Kwantung Army can..."
"Although the Kwantung Army's six main divisions to reinforce us are not all in place and cannot encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army in the wing, it is still no problem to defeat the other Eighth Route Army."
"The Yizhong Eighth Route Army is a special entity among the North China Eighth Route Army and is very difficult to fight."
"Other Eighth Route armies in North China do not have as good equipment as the Yizhong Eighth Route Army, and ammunition is also very scarce."
"The reinforcements of the Kwantung Army going south are as big as theirs in front of them."
"That's it?"
The more Okamura Neji thought about it, the more excited he became, and he quickly made a decision with his fists clenched.
But the chief of staff on the side was not happy. Instead, he reminded him with a difficult look on his face: "Your Excellency, Commander... I think you should not be too happy too early."
"The Kwantung Army that went south to reinforce us this time is not under the command of the North China Front Army Headquarters. They have their own commanders and combat goals... Do you think it is too difficult to persuade them to take the initiative to attack the other Eighth Route Army in North China?"
"No..." Okamura Neji shook his head, confident in his own ideas.
"If it had been before the Gu'an tragedy, the Kwantung Army's reinforcements going south would have definitely rejected our proposal."
"But as the Kwantung Army was severely damaged by a main division of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong and was slapped hard, they will definitely agree to my proposal..."
"The Kwantung Army reinforcements sent south had almost no experience fighting against the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, or even against the Eighth Route Army."
"Without understanding the opponent's strength and combat methods, the Kwantung Army's reinforcement troops going south will have many concerns on the battlefield no matter how powerful they are."
"Actively attacking other Eighth Route Army troops around Yi Zhong is the best way for them to get rid of their worries."
"By attacking other Eighth Route Army, you can become familiar with the tactics and tactics of the Eighth Route Army. You can also gain some credit by the way. Kill two birds with one stone. Why not..."
…………
Kwantung Army Headquarters.
Commander Umezu Umejiro was very angry.
It has been three days since the railway line was attacked. No matter how many troops the local garrison sent to search, they have never been found, not even any trace of their activities.
It was as if these Eighth Route Army troops suddenly disappeared on the Northeast battlefield.
The speed of railway repair is also slower than expected.
The outdoor temperature is getting lower and lower, the snow on the ground is getting thicker and thicker, and the damaged railways are all in mountainous areas, so the difficulty of repairing them has doubled.
The railway could not be restored in a short period of time, and there was no news from the Eighth Route Army that attacked the railway line...
For three days, Umezu Umejiro was almost driven crazy by all these messy things, and he did not receive any good news that could make him happy.
The chief of staff suddenly walked in. After seeing Umezu Umejiro, he shook his head helplessly, which meant that the search for the Eighth Route Army troops in the mountains once again found nothing.
Then there was an expression on his face that was hesitant to speak.
Umezu Umejiro asked angrily: "What else is there?"
"The search team in the mountains begs to withdraw..." the chief of staff hesitated for two seconds before answering.
