The Japanese army mobilized their mopping up troops one after another.
The 37th Division set out from the Xiangyuan and Licheng areas.
The 2nd Guards Division set out from the Xiyang and Heshun areas.
The 14th Brigade set out from Qi County and Taigu area.
The 18th Brigade attacked from the Changhan Road area.
The total strength of the Japanese puppet troops is close to 50,000, and they are aggressively sweeping towards the Eighth Route Army base area.
As for the other 20,000 Japanese troops, they remained stationary in various positions and were all hidden in the military camps.
Because the Japanese intelligence department did not obtain the specific combat plan of the Eighth Route Army.
The Eighth Route Army was broken into pieces and the scattered troops who broke through the encirclement were still waiting for feedback from the mopping up troops.
After the mopping up troops reported back the direction of the Eighth Route Army's breakout, the Japanese on the outside would move out and ambush on the Eighth Route Army's retreat route or at the retreat gathering point.
However, what Shinozuka Yoshio and Kusuyama Hideyoshi didn't know was that the Eighth Route Army headquarters had already changed the battle plan.
They didn't even know that the Eighth Route Army had already assembled troops to fight a frontal battle against the 37th Division.
"Kill the chicken and give it to me!"
Wuxiang County, Liujialing Village.
Looking at the village in front of him, Japanese squadron leader Ejima Yoshiro drew his command sword and pointed forward, his tone filled with murderous intent.
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguo to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. www. Android and Apple are available.]
Behind him, there were about two squadrons of Japanese soldiers. Of course, one of the squadrons was disguised as a puppet army.
Liujiacun is a small village next to the winding mountain road, which is already the sphere of influence of the Eighth Route Army.
Yoshiro Eshima was originally a squad leader of the Kwantung Army. After being transferred to the 225th Regiment of the First Army, he was promoted to squadron leader.
The order he received this time was to burn them all, rob them all and kill them all.
Seeing the village in front of him, Ejima Yoshiro's eyes lit up and he immediately gave the order to attack.
Following his attack order, the Japanese troops did not move, and a squadron of puppet troops pretended to be armed with rifles and stormed into the village aggressively.
While the puppet soldiers were running with rifles in hand, they were also cursing words like "Baga" in Japanese, and their expressions were extremely arrogant.
They had no idea that the Hanyang-made, Liao-13 rifles, Jin-made rifles and other weapons in their hands had betrayed their identities.
The Japs still couldn't do the full set of tricks. Although they changed their military uniforms, they still didn't change their weapons, because once the weapons were changed, the combat effectiveness of the more than 5,000 Japs would be compromised.
Not long after, the puppet company commander came to report: "Taijun Jiangdao, no villagers, food, or livestock have been found in the village."
A translator next to him simultaneously translated the puppet company commander's words to Jiang Dao.
"idiot…"
A trace of disappointment flashed in Ejima Yoshiro's eyes.
Obviously, the Chinese people in the village ran away in advance and took away their livestock and food.
"Burn the village!" Ejima Yoshiro said in a cold tone.
The more than 10,000 Japanese and puppet troops who set out from Xiangyuan and Licheng were divided into more than 20 groups and swept forward along the main roads and small roads.
The plans for how many villages each sweep force will sweep every day and where to station at night are all planned in advance.
Moreover, the distance between the troops on each route is only 1 or 2 kilometers. If one route is attacked, the troops on other routes can also be raided to provide immediate support.
Xiangyuan and the north of Licheng are almost all mountainous terrain. As long as they sweep along the main roads and trails, it will be difficult for the Eighth Route Army to escape.
"Hi!" The puppet company commander nodded quickly.
As the puppet company commander issued the order, the puppet soldiers set fire to the houses one after another, and soon the entire Liujialing Village was in flames.
"keep going!"
Ejima Yoshiro put his sword back into its scabbard, got on his horse, waved his right hand, and the Japanese and puppet troops continued to sweep northward along the highway.
An inconspicuous soil bag 500 meters away from Liujialing Village moved slightly.
Only a slight voice was heard:
"Call the headquarters, call the headquarters, a group of enemies has passed Liujialing Village, consisting of two squadrons, and is advancing along the highway towards Xinzhuang Village."
After finishing speaking, a figure carrying a high-power walkie-talkie jumped up from the earth bag and disappeared under the earth bag in a few breaths.
The cold wind blew by, as if no one had ever passed by here.
The figure just now was a member of the Sharp Sword Squadron.
This scene of the Japs burning villages was also going on in other places, and all the Japs' mopping up troops were also under the surveillance of the Sharp Swordsmen.
Every time the Japs arrived, the Sharp Sword team members would report the Japs' whereabouts to Li Yunlong's headquarters.
…
Xiying Town.
Li Yunlong's general headquarters.
Everyone is busy.
The person in charge of the wiring is Li Yunlong's guard Huang Erhu.
Because Li Yunlong's headquarters lacked a combat staff officer, Zhao Gang, Liu Dali, Huang Erhu and others temporarily took over the post of combat staff officer.
"Political Commissar, the 12th Japanese raiding force has passed Liujialing Village." Huang Erhu reported to Li Yunlong.
In order to facilitate recording, each enemy was numbered.
Zhao Gang quickly drew an arrow on the map, and then marked 12 on the arrow.
Li Yunlong came over and saw that the Japanese's various mopping up troops were advancing hand in hand.
Zhao Gang said: "Old Li, the enemy's advance is too slow. They only advanced less than 15 kilometers on the first day. It is getting dark. It seems that we will not be able to get on with the enemy today."
Close combat at night is the specialty of the Eighth Route Army, and the Japanese would definitely not dare to continue their raids at night.
After a pause, Zhao Gang suggested: "How about we send a small group of troops to sneak attack the Japanese at night to prevent them from sleeping well."
"There's no rush." Li Yunlong stared at the map and shook his head, his eyes calm: "Don't alert the enemy yet."
The Wuxiang area is mostly mountainous, so the Japanese would probably set up their camps on reverse slopes and send out scouts to guard them.
Most of the time, mountain artillery will not be able to hit the Japanese. It is not feasible to use mountain artillery to bombard the Japanese camp first, and then send out infantry to sneak attack the Japanese.
This method would definitely work on plains.
If every enemy raiding force sent a small force to attack, the enemy would definitely notice that something was wrong.
You might even guess that every mopping up force was under the close surveillance of Eighth Route Army scouts.
"But it won't work if we don't attack." Zhao Gang said: "The Japs' mopping up troops did not encounter the Eighth Route Army all day long, and there was no attack at night. On the contrary, it would make the Japs feel abnormal."
Li Yunlong looked thoughtful, and then said: "Old Zhao, what you said makes sense."
Then Li Yunlong turned to Huang Erhu and said: "Inform Ding Wei, Kong Jie and Cheng Shifa to send small groups to attack the 3rd, 12th and 21st Japs."
"Yes!" Huang Erhu quickly picked up the high-power walkie-talkie and called the three attack group headquarters one by one.
…
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the mopping up units are progressing smoothly and 43 villages have been destroyed. None of the units encountered resistance from the Eighth Route Army."
Guangzhi Town.
The division headquarters of the Japanese 37th Division.
The communications staff officer held the combat reports from the various mopping up units and reported them to Kenkichi Hirata.
"Yo Xi!" Kenkichi Hirata perked up and said, "Immediately forward the report to Commander Shinozuka."
"Hi!" The communications staff member lowered his head and walked quickly to the communications room next door.
On the map in front of him, the combat staff plotted the advancing direction of each mopping up force and where they would be stationed tonight.
At the same time, the communications team at the division headquarters also reported this situation to the First Army Headquarters.
Hirata Kenkichi stared at the map with a sneer on his lips.
According to this advancement speed, in three days at most, the 37th Division's mopping up troops, together with the mopping up troops from the other three directions, will be able to compress the Eighth Route Army into a small area.
Of course, the premise is that the Eighth Route Army will continue to be a coward within these three days and will not resist or escape.
However, Hirata Kenkichi knew that was impossible, and it was estimated that starting from tomorrow, the mopping up troops would gradually come into contact with the Eighth Route Army.
By the third day, almost all the mopping up troops will be at war with the Eighth Route Army.
After the Eighth Route Army has been harvested once, they will break out to the outside line and be harvested again.
Suddenly, Hirata Kenkichi's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly thought of Li Yunlong's new regiment, the ace unit of the Eighth Route Army.
This new regiment was really fierce in fighting, and almost wiped out his 225th Regiment with one regiment.
Hirata Kenkichi only hoped that Li Yunlong's new regiment would not break out from his direction, otherwise the 37th Division would inevitably suffer heavy losses.
…
night.
Taiyuan, First Army Headquarters.
"Your Excellency, Commander."
"The first day's results of each unit have been reported one after another."
Kusuyama Hideyoshi held a stack of telegrams in his hand and reported to Shinozuka Yoshio:
"The 2nd Guards Division advanced 13 kilometers and destroyed 42 villages. A small-scale exchange of fire broke out between the 3rd Route mopping up troops and the 8th Route Army, causing casualties on both sides."
"The 18th Brigade advanced 11 kilometers and destroyed 26 villages. Among them, the mopping up troops along the way were ambushed by the Eighth Route Army. The nearby mopping up troops arrived in time and the Eighth Route Army escaped."
"The 14th Brigade advanced 12 kilometers and destroyed 39 villages. Small-scale exchanges of fire broke out and there were casualties on each other."
"The 37th Division advanced 14 kilometers and destroyed 43 villages. There was no exchange of fire with the Eighth Route Army."
After Hideyoshi Kusuyama said the last sentence, Yoshio Shinozuka frowned slightly.
He seemed to smell something unusual.
"Kusuyama-kun, the 2nd Guards Division, the 14th Brigade, and the 18th Brigade all exchanged fire with the Eighth Route Army to varying degrees, but the 37th Division did not engage in firefights with the Eighth Route Army?"
"What is the Eighth Route Army doing?"
Yoshio Shinozuka sounded puzzled.
"This is indeed a bit suspicious." Kusuyama Hideyoshi narrowed his eyes: "Maybe the Eighth Route Army does not intend to escape from this direction, maybe the Eighth Route Army is brewing some conspiracy."
Yoshio Shinozuka said: "No matter what the Eighth Route Army is doing, the 37th Division should be reminded that all mopping up troops should be more vigilant at night to guard against sneak attacks by the Eighth Route Army at night."
"Hi!" Kusuyama Hideyoshi lowered his head, "I will order the communications room to send a telegram right away."
…
It was still dark the next day.
Yoshio Shinozuka and Hideyoshi Kusuyama woke up almost at the same time, and both slept for only a few hours.
At this time, a communications soldier walked in holding a telegram, shouted the report and handed it to Kusuyama Hideyoshi after pausing.
Kusuyama Hideyoshi said: "Your Excellency, Commander, you guessed it right. The Eighth Route Army did sneak attack on the mopping up troops of the 37th Division last night."
"Oh?" Shinozuka Yoshio's expression changed, "Several troops were attacked by sneak attacks. What were the losses?"
"Three troops were attacked by an eight-pronged attack."
"Because of your order from the Commander-in-Chief, all units were on heightened alert at night, so the losses were very small."
Kusuyama Hideyoshi put away the telegram.
Yoshio Shinozuka felt relieved and snorted coldly.
Kusuyama Hideyoshi's tone was disdainful: "The Eighth Route Army is still doing the same thing. They don't dare to fight the imperial army head-on and like to carry out sneak attacks."
"Don't be careless." Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand and warned, "Starting from today, small groups of troops from the Eighth Route Army may break out one after another. Order each unit to kill and injure the small groups from the Eighth Route Army as much as possible, and continue to sweep forward and attack!"
"Hi!" Kusuyama Hideyoshi turned around and started drafting a telegram.
…
Xiying Town, Taihang Column Headquarters.
Li Yunlong almost didn't sleep all night. It was almost dawn before he lay down on a chair and squinted for a while.
As the sky grew brighter, the radio station at the command headquarters began to buzz, and the temporary combat staff began to get busy.
Huang Erhu answered several calls using a high-power walkie-talkie.
They were called by three attack groups. At this time, the Japanese's mopping up troops began to dispatch again.
Huang Erhu turned around and walked towards Li Yunlong, who was lying on a chair snoring loudly.
He was about to wake up Li Yunlong, but Li Yunlong's snoring suddenly stopped. Before he opened his eyes, his mouth moved: "Huzi, have the Japanese started a raid?"
"Yes, leader!"
"The detachment leaders of the three attack groups just called, and the Japanese from all walks of life have started raiding again."
Huang Erhu answered truthfully.
Hearing this, Commander Li suddenly opened his eyes, lifted up his gray woolen coat and stood up from the chair, his eyes like lightning.
Li Yunlong looked sternly: "Give me the order, all attacking troops will enter the attack position according to the plan and prepare to attack the enemy!"
"Yes!" Huang Erhu stood up and responded, turning around and walking towards the high-power walkie-talkie.
