At the headquarters of the Japanese Fourth Mixed Brigade in Yangquan, Major General Miyazawa is making final preparations before the raid.
A steady stream of intelligence from the front lines is constantly being collected into his hands to ensure that the next major sweep is foolproof and that he can make the most timely judgment based on the intelligence.
"General, aerial reconnaissance report: The Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army is building a defensive position on Niutoushan east of Wangqiling Village. It has a very large number of troops and seems to be blocking us there!" Lieutenant Colonel Harada hurried to Major General Miyazawa to report.
As he spoke, he marked the specific location of Wangqiling Village on the sand table and pointed there to continue the introduction.
"Right here..."
"The terrain here is very complex. Wangqiling Village is located on a long and narrow plain, and our only route runs through the entire plain. The Niutou guarded by the Independent Regiment is located next to the road, with an altitude of more than 200 meters..."
"If the troops want to continue to penetrate into the independent regiment's base area, they must first capture Niutoushan..."
"Otherwise, their light and heavy machine guns mounted on the mountain could block the entire section of the road, and there would be no way we could successfully cross this narrow plain..."
Major General Miyazawa recognized at a glance that the Wangqiling Village found by the Chief of Staff was the same raid loophole he had discovered five days ago.
The explanation given by the combat staff was: there was a cavalry ambush behind the mopping up troops, which could definitely block all the Eighth Route Army's breakout.
After the cavalry regiment was killed by the Eighth Route Army, an infantry regiment drawn from the Taiyuan area has rushed to the front line by railway. They will take over the cavalry regiment, secretly set up an ambush behind the mopping up troops, and complete the mission that the cavalry regiment has not completed.
If the Eighth Route Army breaks through the blockade surrounded by the mopping up troops, it will definitely rush into the pocket formations prepared by the reinforcements, gather them together and annihilate them.
Major General Miyazawa did not expect that the leader of the independent regiment had similar ideas to his own, and both chose Wangqiling Village as their breakthrough point.
But the Eighth Route Army didn't know: there was a pocket array hidden behind the mopping up troops, waiting for them to get into it.
A sneer flashed at the corner of his mouth, feeling that Wangqiling Village would become the burial place of the Independent Regiment.
As long as the independent group really chooses to break out from Wangqiling Village, they will definitely die.
There's just one thing he didn't understand!
The Independent Regiment clearly wanted to break out of the encirclement, so why did they build a blocking position in Niutoushan...
Could it be that they want to fight a few blocking battles first, consume some of the mopping up troops through blocking battles, and then launch a counterattack to break out of the encirclement...
Major General Miyazawa guessed, and then gave an affirmative answer in his mind: "It must be so!"
Staring at Lieutenant Colonel Harada, he began to analyze: "The Eighth Route Army wants to block us in front of Niutoushan. When the time comes, they will counterattack and break through!"
"The terrain here is very narrow and long. No matter how many troops we have, we can't deploy it. We can send up to two infantry squadrons in one attack..."
"As long as the independent regiment's blocking firepower is strong enough, it can cause us heavy casualties!"
"The troops will take the opportunity to counterattack and they will definitely be able to break out of our encirclement at the minimum cost!"
Lieutenant Colonel Harada was convinced and immediately asked for instructions: "Sir, since we already know that the independent regiment wants to break out from Wangqiling Village, should we allocate some troops from other troops to secretly reinforce the middle road mopping up troops!"
Seeing Major General Miyazawa hesitate, Lieutenant Colonel Harada continued his analysis.
"Intelligence shows that the total strength of the independent regiment has exceeded 4,000, with well-equipped equipment, sufficient ammunition, and a large number of artillery and cavalry to assist."
"I'm afraid that if the mopping up troops join forces with the ambush troops behind them, they may not be able to match them..."
"Moreover, the two armies fought against the independent regiment one after another. It is easy for them to defeat each other. General, please think twice!"
Major General Miyazawa responded with an embarrassed look on his face: "I also want to strengthen the strength of the sweep force in the middle to ensure that the entire operation is foolproof!"
"But I'm worried that if we move, the Independent Regiment will notice something is wrong and give up the plan to break out from Wangqiling Village. Then our current preparations will be in vain. It will also weaken the strength of the left and right mopping up troops and create other obstacles for the Independent Regiment.
An opportunity to take advantage of!"
"We can secretly mobilize troops!" Lieutenant Commander Harada thought about the proposal!
"Each mopping up force has a large number of Imperial Army soldiers. We can let some of the Imperial Army soldiers exchange military uniforms with the Imperial Army soldiers, and let the Imperial Army soldiers pretend to be Imperial soldiers and continue to participate in the mopping up in the original troops!"
"The Imperial Army, wearing the uniform of the Imperial Association Army, secretly reinforces the central mopping up troops in the name of protecting the logistics line!"
"As long as there are one thousand more imperial troops in the middle mopping up force, even if the entire independent regiment breaks out together, we can stop them and annihilate them all!"
Major General Miyazawa's eyes lit up, and he looked at Lieutenant Colonel Harada in surprise. He didn't expect that the chief of staff could even think of such a method as substituting a weak point.
Immediately analyze the feasibility of this method in my mind...
In less than two minutes, a smile flashed across Major General Miyazawa's serious face. Looking at Lieutenant Commander Harada, he seemed to have made a decision...
But God played a big joke on him.
Before he could say anything, the intelligence staff hurried towards him: "General, there is a situation in the direction of Xigou in the independent regiment's defense area!"
"The terrain there is complex, with deep ravines, high mountains and dense forests, which is very suitable for hiding troops."
"Our intelligence officers and scouts who sneaked into the independent regiment's base in advance have been focusing on this area..."
"We didn't notice any unusual movement three days ago. Since then, our scouts and intelligence personnel operating in the Xigou area have disappeared one after another."
"We believe that the independent regiment must have hidden secrets there, and will continue to send additional intelligence personnel to investigate Xigou..."
"After paying a huge price, a scout finally escaped from the pursuit of the Eighth Route Army and retreated to his station!"
"The returned scouts reported that they found a large number of Eighth Route Army troops in the ravine..."
"Not only did I see light and heavy machine guns, but I also saw mortars dismantled into parts, and mules and horses transporting ammunition and baggage..."
"On the way back, I overheard a few words from the commander of the Eighth Route Army, which seemed to be: To attack in the east and attack in the west, the latent troops must keep secret... No one can expose the target..."
Lieutenant Colonel Harada was shocked. He immediately found the location of Xigou on the sand table and made a rough judgment at a glance.
"General, the terrain here is indeed very suitable for hiding troops..."
"If the information brought back by the investigators is true, then our previous judgments about Wangqiling Village must have been wrong..."
"The real purpose of the Independent Regiment building a position in Niutoushan with great fanfare is to attract our attention there and attack in the east and west!"
"If we don't have this information and continue to mobilize troops from the left and right, we will be fooled by the independent regiment and create opportunities for them to break out!"
Major General Miyazawa did not answer immediately. He stared at the sand table and fell into deep thought, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper...
Lieutenant Commander Harada became anxious and once again turned his attention to the intelligence staff officer.
"Can the returned scouts determine exactly how many Eighth Route Army personnel there are in the Xigou area?"
"He said that the total strength of the Eighth Route Army in the Xigou area must be more than two battalions!" the intelligence staff replied.
"What's your judgment?" Lieutenant Colonel Harada continued to ask.
"At least three battalions!" the intelligence staff replied.
"What's the basis?" Lieutenant Commander Harada asked seriously.
If it can be confirmed that the Independent Regiment ambushed three battalions of troops in the Xigou area, then the Independent Regiment's plan to attack the east and west will be confirmed.
The main force of the Independent Regiment is only four battalions, so it cannot be ruled out that they will make the decision to sacrifice their troops and retain their commanders in order to preserve their main force.
"We judged from the specific locations where the intelligence personnel and scouts disappeared!"
As he spoke, the intelligence staff directly drew a circle on the Xigou area on the sand table and pointed at the circle to introduce it.
"Our scouts and intelligence personnel will be attacked as long as they get close to this circle..."
"So far, only one scout has evacuated the Independence Regiment base under the cover of his comrades and returned to the area occupied by the imperial army..."
"All other scouts and intelligence personnel who had contact with the Independent Regiment were killed..."
"It shows that the hidden troops of the Independent Regiment are active in this area..."
"The area here is very large, and the ravines are deep. It is possible to hide five battalions, let alone three battalions!"
"Considering that there are still a large number of Eighth Route Army troops digging trenches and building positions near Niutoushan, we judge from this that the independent regiment hiding in Xigou has at least three main battalions!"
"Their artillery and cavalry companies are probably also in Xigou!"
Major General Miyazawa still didn't answer, and continued to remain silent while staring at the sand table.
At this moment, a combat staff officer suddenly ran towards them: "General, our scouts discovered the main force of the Independent Regiment in the Xianfengling area, as well as cavalry troops..."
"This Eighth Route Army is very cautious. They will kill our people whenever they see them. They are particularly afraid that their whereabouts will be exposed."
"Where is Xianfengling?" Major General Miyazawa, who was silent, finally spoke, staring at Lieutenant Commander Harada and asked anxiously.
"Here!" Harada Nakasa pointed at a point on the sand table and introduced.
"This is the only way to sweep the troops from the right..."
"Although the terrain is not as complicated as Xigou, the mountains are high and the forests are dense, so a large number of troops can be hidden!"
"Is that where the independent group's true breakout direction is?"
"No..." Major General Miyazawa shook his head and judged.
"There is only one place here that is the true direction of the independent group's breakout. The other two places are suspicious formations deliberately arranged by the independent group, specifically to confuse us and induce us to make mistakes."
"The independent regiment plus the new recruits is only five or six battalions!"
"I will give him two battalions for the Niutoushan defense line, three battalions for him at Xigou, and at most one battalion and a small number of directly affiliated troops will be left in Xianfengling!"
"Their firepower is not as strong as ours to begin with. If they are dispersed like this, their firepower will be even weaker, and the chance of a successful breakout will be very slim."
"Unless the leader of the independent regiment is confused, he will definitely not choose to divide his troops to break out!"
"So we found that only one of the three places where independent groups were active was true, and the others were all fake!"
"But which part is true and which part is false?" Although Lieutenant Colonel Harada agreed with Major General Miyazawa's analysis, it did not mean that he could judge the truth from the lie. He could only frown and ask.
"True and false, false and true...what a cunning independent regiment..." Major General Miyazawa shook his head and answered.
