Communications Staff Officer Toshimatsu Kasai had just walked to the door when he met Yamamoto Kazuki who walked in with a saber on his arm.
Kasai Toshimatsu was just a center left, taking the initiative to give Yamamoto Kazuki a nod, while Yamamoto Kazuki gave a slight nod to Kasai Toshimatsu.
After Kasai Toshimatsu left, Yamamoto Kazuki continued to walk towards Commander Shinozuka Yoshio.
Seeing Yamamoto Kazuki, Shinozuka Yoshio's face as black as the bottom of a pot softened slightly: "Yamamoto-kun, you are here, please sit down."
Yoshio Shinozuka walked out from behind his desk, stretched out his hand in the direction of the chessboard, and then the two of them walked over and sat down across from each other across the chessboard.
Yamamoto Kazuki picked up the teapot next to him and filled Shinozuka Yoshio's blue and white porcelain teacup.
Yoshio Shinozuka said to the chessboard in front of him: "Yamamoto-kun, this is the end game that Chief of Staff Kusuyama and I have not finished. What do you think?"
Yamamoto Kazuki's eyes dropped, and he only glanced twice before saying: "Sir General, with all due respect, this is a draw."
"This is indeed a draw." Shinozuka Yoshio said, "Does Yamamoto-kun have a way to break the tie?"
"It is absolutely impossible to completely defeat your opponent in this game of chess, unless you play another game and start the game again."
Kazuki Yamamoto knew the meaning of Shinozuka Yoshio's words. It seemed that he was asking about the chess game, but in fact he was asking about the current battle situation between the First Army and the Eighth Route Army.
Yoshio Shinozuka sighed, this raid had cost so much material, financial and manpower, but it still fell short. This made the old Japanese very unwilling.
"Have you heard about Yamazaki-kun's death for his country?"
After picking up the teacup and taking a sip, Yoshio Shinozuka calmed down his irritable mood a little and changed the subject and asked.
"I heard that Yamazaki-kun graduated from the Imperial Army Academy and is an outstanding imperial soldier."
Yamamoto put on a serious face and said unceremoniously: "But he committed the common problem of most imperial soldiers. He regarded himself as the god of war. With a mere force of more than a thousand troops, he penetrated deep into the enemy's hinterland. How could he be undefeated?
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"I have long said that Tubal Road is no longer what it used to be. They already have the strength to quickly annihilate a regiment of the Imperial Army."
"It's really stupid to still use this tactic of center blooming."
Yoshio Shinozuka looked a little embarrassed when he heard Yamamoto's words about Sang and Huai. After all, it was a battle plan that he personally agreed to let the Yamazaki detachment enter the hinterland of the Eighth Route Army.
Before the war, he, Kusuyama Hideyoshi and Tada Shun all agreed that after the main force of the Eighth Route Army launched the campaign, after more than two months of attacks, it was now exhausted.
In urgent need of rest and replenishment.
Moreover, it is estimated that the artillery shells of the Eighth Route Army may not have been used up much.
At this time, it is not difficult to give the Eighth Route Army a center to bloom and eliminate the Eighth Road in one fell swoop.
However, the ideal is very full, but the reality is very skinny.
The mopping up troops searched the Eighth Route Base Area for several days, but did not even see Mao, the main force of the Eighth Route Army.
However, it was not without gains. Wherever the Japanese troops went, houses, farmland, hospitals, schools and arsenals were all destroyed.
Yoshio Shinozuka said:
"The destruction of the Yamazaki detachment only added more than a thousand heroic souls to the Yasukuni Shrine."
"But what I am thinking about is the honor of the First Army."
"In the past few months, the First Army has suffered heavy losses, with over 10,000 casualties and a loss of honor."
"I have been thinking about how to restore the honor of the First Army and wash away the shame."
Yamamoto Kazuki said: "General, with all due respect, I am pessimistic about the war situation with the current strategies and tactics to deal with Tubal Road."
"The commander of the Eighth Route Army is very smart. He knows very well that the Eighth Route Army is no match for the Imperial Army with its current strength."
"So every time we faced the imperial army's raids, we adopted tactics to avoid the imperial army's sharp edges, so that every time the imperial army's fists hit the cotton."
These words touched the heart of Yoshio Shinozuka. Yoshio Shinozuka said: "Not only do they avoid the sharp edge of the imperial army, these mud-legged people often jump to the outside and ambush the imperial army's transport team. They set off from Yangquan this afternoon.
The transport convoy was ambushed by an eight-pronged attack, and the two imperial army squadrons that rushed to the rescue were all shattered."
"It's just expected."
Yamamoto Kazuki still had a cold and paralyzed face, without the slightest expression of surprise on his face: "Now the Eighth Route Army is still adopting a strategy of avoiding the imperial army's edge. Once the Eighth Route Army takes the initiative to fight a decisive battle with the Imperial Army, it means that the Eighth Route Army has
With the strength and chance of defeating the Imperial Army, the Imperial Army might then..."
After finishing speaking, Yamamoto Kazuki's eyes flashed sharply.
Shinozuka Yoshio felt a little anxious when he heard this. If there was no external military assistance, he would not worry about this problem.
Even the Chinese government forces, which controlled the distribution of all China's financial, material and manpower resources, were defeated by the Japanese army, and most of China fell into Japanese hands.
What's more, Tubal Road only occupies a few small areas of land?
However, after receiving military assistance and using flexible strategies and tactics, Tubal Road has demonstrated considerable combat effectiveness and posed a considerable threat to the Japanese army.
Over time, Tubalu became fully fledged, and its weapons and equipment were more sophisticated than those of the imperial army...
Yoshio Shinozuka couldn't sit still and asked in a deep voice: "Yamamoto-kun, what did you mean by restarting the chess game just now?"
Yamamoto Kazuki said: "Your Excellency General, the subject of my research is special operations, so I always think about problems with special tactics thinking."
"The so-called restarting the chess game means re-formulating a plan to sweep and behead the Eighth Route Army with the special agent team as the center."
Yoshio Shinozuka asked: "Didn't you say that there was a mole in the headquarters and that the special agent team would not easily behead the leader of the Eighth Route Army? Why did you change your mind this time?"
Yamamoto Kazuki looked around. Upon seeing this, Yoshio Shinozuka walked to the door, sent the guard away and ordered no one to come near.
After making sure that no one was eavesdropping, Yoshio Shinozuka said: "Yamamoto-kun, there are only two of us here, can we talk about your plan?"
Yamamoto Kazuki paused and said: "General, please forgive me, I have secretly trained two troops to behead the Eighth Route Army in place of the special agent team."
"Oh?" Yoshio Shinozuka frowned at first, and then said, "It's understandable that Mr. Yamamoto wants to keep it secret. Which two troops are they?"
Yamamoto Kazuki said: "The captains are Lieutenant Masuko Shigeo of the 9th Squadron of the 223rd Regiment of the 36th Division and Lieutenant Okawa Tokichi of the 224th Regiment."
"These two people were specially selected by me during the last training camp. There were also 200 elite members of the imperial army who were not sent back to their original troops."
"Although they are not up to the standard of special soldiers, their individual soldier quality is better than that of ordinary imperial soldiers. After my intensive training, their individual soldier quality is even stronger than that of the elite soldiers of the standing divisions."
"Lieutenant Masuko and Lieutenant Okawa each brought 100 elite troops to replace the special agent team to carry out the task of beheading the leaders of the Eighth Route Army. There is no problem."
"These two troops are not up to the standards of special forces. I call them advancing troops."
Yamamoto Kazuki is not a fool. On the contrary, he is smarter than everyone at the top of the First Army Headquarters.
Ever since the last sneak attack on the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army in Daxia Bay failed, he always felt that there was a mole among the senior officials of the First Army. Even the whereabouts of the special agent team had been kept secret. Most of the time, even the commander Yoshio Shinozuka did not know that the special agent team was there.
Where and what exactly are you doing?
"Advance team? It's interesting." Yoshio Shinozuka nodded, "But the most critical issue now is that the imperial army does not know the whereabouts of the leader of the Eighth Route Army."
Yamamoto Kazuki said: "A few months ago, I sent a telegram to the special instructor in Germany, asking him to help purchase and send the most advanced radio detection equipment."
"Radio detection equipment has arrived two days ago. This radio detection equipment can accurately detect the location of all radio signals within a radius of dozens of kilometers."
"The advancing team took it close to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army. As long as the high-power radio on the Eighth Route Army is sending and receiving telegrams, the leader of the Eighth Route Army can be found and beheaded."
"Yo Xi!" Yoshio Shinozuka nodded happily, "It turns out that Yamamoto-kun has been prepared for it. How many mopping up troops do you need to use?"
"Your Majesty General, we only need two brigades."
Yamamoto Kazuki's expression did not fluctuate at all.
"Two brigades are not too many." Yoshio Shinozuka muttered, "But this combat plan needs approval from the North China Front Army Headquarters."
Although Yoshio Shinozuka is the commander of the First Army, he can only mobilize the strength of one brigade at will at most. To mobilize the strength of two brigades requires the approval of the commander of the North China Front.
"I believe Commander Tada will agree to this combat plan." Yamamoto Kazuki said, "But I have a request. This combat plan does not require the participation of the headquarters' staff."
"If Commander Tada agrees to this combat plan," Shinozuka Yoshio said, "I agree to your request."
"However, I also have a request, that is, this combat operation must only succeed and not fail."
"Hi!" Kazuki Yamamoto paused, "I will definitely live up to His Excellency the General's requirements!"
…
Following Yoshio Shinozuka's order, the Japanese army that had been mopping up the troops withdrew from the base areas in southeastern Shanxi one after another the next day.
Although the Japanese mopping up troops did not find the main force of the Eighth Route Army for decisive battle, they wreaked havoc in the base area and caused considerable losses to the Eighth Route Army base area.
The 9th Brigade, 29th Brigade, 36th Division and 37th Division successively withdrew to their respective defense areas.
Shinozuka Yoshio was not idle either, planning a comeback. In order to persuade Tada Shun to agree to the beheading operation, he personally flew to Peking and met Tada Shun in Iron Lion Alley.
Although this raid plan failed, the Japanese base camp gave Tada Shun another chance.
After the two met, Yoshio Shinozuka showed Kazuki Yamamoto's battle plan to Shun Tada and promoted Yamamoto's battle plan to the sky.
After listening to Yoshio Shinozuka's story and reading the beheading plan, Tada Shun was very satisfied.
In Tada Shun's view, the failure of cage tactics and mopping up showed that previous tactics were not feasible and that dangerous tactics might have miraculous effects.
Therefore, Commander Shun Tada approved the combat plan and ordered Major General Hattori Naoomi, commander of the 21st Brigade of the North China Front Army, to form an observation group and go to the First Army to observe special operations.
If this special operation can be successful, Tada Shun will promote special operations and innovate tactics throughout the North China Front.
