"Comrade Kong Jie is not arrogant in victory, nor discouraged in defeat..." the chief of staff answered.
"The battle report said: The Independence Regiment is using prisoners and captured weapons and equipment to quickly restore its strength to welcome the next round of sweeps by the Japanese and puppet troops..."
"It says that Yoshio Shinozuka is very likely to seize the good opportunity when the Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi suffered heavy casualties, directly mobilize troops from Taiyuan to sweep northwestern Shanxi, and capture northwestern Shanxi in one fell swoop!"
"This judgment is very consistent with some of the intelligence we received!"
"After the defeat in the last big raid, the Shanxi garrison has been restoring its strength and replenishing new soldiers and equipment!"
"They are still secretly replacing the Taiyuan garrison, which has recruited a large number of new recruits, with the southwest Shanxi field force!"
Although these actions were very careful, they were still noticed by our people!"
"If Yoshio Shinozuka hadn't taken any big action, he wouldn't have been able to replace a bunch of new recruits with veterans in a hurry."
"It's only been less than half a year since our base area was raided by them. Yoshio Shinozuka's next target will definitely not be us!"
"Kong Jie, Li Yunlong, and Ding Wei... successfully raided Taiyuan during the last counter-mopping up, and successfully broke out of the encirclement surrounded by heavy Japanese troops... not only made great contributions, but also caused the Japanese to lose face!"
"If I were Yoshio Shinozuka, I would definitely not be able to swallow this breath!"
"At that time, the Shanxi garrison lost troops and generals. They wanted to pursue Kong Jie in northwest Shanxi but they had no troops available."
"But Yoshio Shinozuka will definitely not stop wanting to take revenge on Kong Jie!"
"In such a hurry to replenish the troops, they even substituted a bunch of new recruits for field troops. Most likely it was to retaliate against Kong Jie and the others!"
"Kong Jie and the others have just lost their troops in the Battle of Ping'an, and they are now weak. If I were Yoshio Shinozuka, I would definitely take the opportunity to launch an attack, take advantage of your illness and kill you, decide the outcome in one battle, and capture northwest Shanxi!"
Brigadier Chen took it seriously and said: "I am going to remind the three regiments after receiving the battle report from Kong Jie and Ding Wei to immediately switch from offense to defense and prepare for counter-mopping up!"
"I didn't expect that boy Kong Jie had already thought of going ahead of us!"
"Call back to Kong Jie immediately: The brigade headquarters has also received information that Yoshio Shinozuka has assembled heavy troops in Taiyuan. Their next target is likely to be northwest Shanxi, and troops may be sent at any time..."
"Require them to immediately replenish their losses, retrain their troops, restore their combat effectiveness, and prepare for counter-mopping up!"
"Send the same telegram to Li Yunlong and Ding Wei each, especially Li Yunlong!"
"In the Battle of Ping'an, their regiment was the main attacker. They did not accumulate a lot of defensive experience like the Independent Regiment and the New Regiment. Everything had to start from scratch. He must be more vigilant and be prepared for counter-mopping up!"
"Don't win another Ping'an County town and then drift away. No one will take it seriously!"
"Tell the three regiment commanders that after a safe battle, all the trophies they captured will be replenished for their respective troops and do not need to be turned over to the brigade headquarters..."
"I hope the three regiment leaders will make good use of the spoils and restore the strength of the troops as soon as possible!"
At the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan, Yoshio Shinozuka was in a very bad mood.
Ping'an County was breached, the Yamamoto Special Forces that he had high hopes for were completely destroyed, and the initiator of the special operations, Yamamoto Osaku, was also killed in the battle...
One bad news after another made him breathless.
Little did he know, there was even bigger bad news waiting for him next.
"Sir, our losses in the Heian battle have been calculated!" the chief of staff stood in front of Yoshio Shinozuka, lowered his head and said in a low voice.
Yoshio Shinozuka was furious, and when he heard his subordinates' reports that sounded like mosquitoes buzzing, he burst out of anger and cursed with dissatisfaction.
"Bage Yalu, haven't you eaten? You can't even say a word!"
"Isn't it just that Ping'an County has been lost and the entire Yamamoto Special Forces team has been wiped out? There's nothing bad to report..."
"Louder, I can't hear what you're saying?"
"Hayi!"
Amidst Yoshio Shinozuka's angry scolding, the chief of staff finally raised his head, but the hesitant expression on his face did not change. It took a while before he spoke again.
"Commander, please be mentally prepared... The losses of the Shanxi garrison in this war are far greater than we imagined?"
Yoshio Shinozuka's heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition suddenly flashed through his mind, and he asked with disbelief: "Could it be that the losses of the reinforcements were also huge?"
"How is this possible... They began to retreat as soon as they received the news that Ping'an County was breached. There were planes covering the sky. Is it possible that the Eighth Route Army that was blocking them dared to surround and annihilate our reinforcements under the cover of planes?"
"Speak clearly, don't scare me with such ambiguity!"
The chief of staff could only bite the bullet and continue: "We have sent a total of nine reinforcements. Until now, there is still no news from four reinforcements. No matter whether they are sending out radio signals or dispatching scouts, they cannot be contacted!"
"We suspect that these four reinforcements have encountered something unexpected..."
"The smallest reinforcement force has 1,100 troops, the largest has 2,500 troops, and the remaining two reinforcement troops have 1,300 troops and 1,800 troops respectively!"
"I checked and found that they all disappeared in the defense areas of the Independent Regiment and the New Regiment of the Eighth Route Army!"
"In addition, the reinforcements commanded by Colonel Miyamoto were resolutely blocked by the Eighth Route Army at the Ping'an Earth Temple. Not only did they fail to capture the Earth Temple under the cover of aircraft, they were also counterattacked by the Eighth Route Army's blocking troops..."
"Of the more than 3,000 reinforcements, only less than 200 were withdrawn, and all other troops were wiped out by the Eighth Route Army..."
Yoshio Shinozuka's face was full of shock, and his open mouth could almost fit an egg into it.
If these words hadn't come from the mouth of the chief of staff, he wouldn't have believed it to death.
The chief of staff took a look at the rest of the battle report and did not want to continue attacking the commander.
But as the chief of staff, he must let Yoshio Shinozuka know the true losses of the Shanxi garrison in the Ping An battle. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you survive every battle...
After a long sigh, he continued: "There was also a reinforcement force that passed through the independent regiment's defense area and suffered heavy losses!"
"Only 1,300 of the 3,500-strong team withdrew, and all other troops were wiped out by the independent regiment."
"Other reinforcements also lost 20% to 30% of their strength..."
"According to accurate statistics, we lost a total of 6,736 Imperial troops and 7,969 Imperial Alliance troops in the Ping'an battle. The price we paid was no less than a major sweep!"
"Afraid……"
Shinozuka Yoshio finally recovered from the shock, punched the table in front of him, and looked at the chief of staff with an angry face and asked: "How did the Eighth Route Army Independent Regiment and the New Regiment do this..."
"In two days, four of our reinforcements were wiped out and two of our reinforcements were severely damaged... This is too unbelievable!"
The chief of staff quickly explained: "The current judgment is that it is an ambush!"
"The reinforcements are rushing to safety, and the reconnaissance troops are relaxing their vigilance in order to rush..."
"The Eighth Route Army first used guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare to consume our troops and undermine the morale of the reinforcements..."
"When you encounter suitable terrain, assemble a large force and annihilate it!"
"Among the three regiments entrenched in northwest Shanxi, the independent regiment destroyed the most reinforcements."
"The main force destroyed two of our reinforcements in the defense zone and severely damaged all our reinforcements..."
"The assault battalion and the cavalry company of the independent regiment blocked the attack at Tutu Temple, severely damaging our other reinforcements and almost annihilating them all!"
"Intelligence also shows that the Eighth Route Army in Northwestern Shanxi seized a large number of weapons and ammunition during this battle!"
"As soon as the battle ended, the three regiments began to re-equip the troops and replenish heavy weapons!"
"Mortars are directly equipped to the battalion, and there are quite a lot of them... The troops directly under the regiment are either equipped with mountain artillery or infantry artillery!"
"The heavy machine guns that were previously equipped to the battalion have now been equipped to the company, and the firepower level has increased by at least 50% compared to before!"
Yoshio Shinozuka thought for a while with a sullen face before continuing to ask: "Is the loss of the Eighth Route Army great..."
"How many fighting troops are left in the three regiments... We lost so many troops in one battle, no matter what, we have to kill half of the Eighth Route Army, otherwise those troops will be lost in vain!"
When talking about this issue, the chief of staff's face was obviously much normal, and he reported seriously: "Li Yunlong's new second regiment focused on attacking tough battles and suffered direct losses of more than 2,000 people. There should be more than 2,000 main troops left!"
"But if they draw new soldiers from local troops to supplement the main force..."
"The main force of the independent regiment should be able to recover to 4,000 people in a short period of time, and its combat effectiveness will definitely far exceed the previous 5,000 people!"
"Ding Wei's new regiment fought two ambush battles, and the rest mainly focused on sneak attacks and blockades. It suffered a direct loss of 1,900 people and left over 3,000 fighting troops..."
"But they captured more than a thousand Imperial Army troops!"
"With the Eighth Route Army's mobilization capabilities, many captured soldiers will join the Eighth Route Army in a short period of time to replenish the new regiment... plus the recruits they transferred from local troops, the new regiment should be able to return to 5,000 people in a short time. Overall,
The fighting power is only stronger than before!"
"Kong Jie's independent regiment fought the most, including two ambush battles, two large-scale blocking battles, and a pursuit battle after we gave the order to retreat."
"We lost nearly 3,000 people directly and captured more than 2,000 prisoners!"
"As long as they do a good job in ideological work for the prisoners, there will definitely be no problem in recruiting 1,500 troops!"
"With more than a thousand new recruits drawn from local troops to supplement the main force, the total strength of the independent regiment will immediately increase to 6,000. It is the main regiment with the largest number of troops, the best equipment, and the strongest combat effectiveness among all the Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi!"
The result reported by the chief of staff once again surprised Yoshio Shinozuka.
The direct losses of the Eighth Route Army were actually the same as the losses of the Imperial Army in the Battle of Ping'an... No, it should be a little less...
This means that the additional thousands of Imperial Army troops lost by the Shanxi garrison were lost in vain and no results were achieved.
On other battlefields in North China, no matter how poorly the Imperial Army performed, one soldier could defeat two Eighth Route Army troops. They had never experienced a one-to-one attrition ratio, and they never expected that they would make such a start in northwestern Shanxi.
Once the news spreads, the Shanxi garrison will definitely become the laughing stock of the North China Front again, which is so embarrassing.
When the Independent Regiment raided Taiyuan and brought shame to the Shanxi garrison, Shinozuka Yoshio's hatred for the Independent Regiment, the New First Regiment, and the New Second Regiment became even more intense. Especially Kong Jie's Independent Regiment, he wanted to be skinned and cramped on the spot.
