What Wang Xuexin didn't know was that Okamura Neji, who was at the First Army Headquarters in Taiyuan at this time, was having a headache about the current situation.
The victory of the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain was declared eighteen days after the battle began.
The empire fought this battle very smoothly. It only took more than half a month to capture Zhongtiao Mountain, which had not been captured in previous years, and only a few hundred people were killed or injured. This made the Army General Staff Headquarters rejoice.
The Army General Staff Headquarters even ignored the more than 200 aircraft at two airports that were bombed in this battle and the large number of pilots and ground crews lost.
The reason is that the strategic location of Zhongtiao Mountain is extremely important. It is like a knife inserted across the land of China, dividing it into two parts that cannot be connected with each other.
After capturing Zhongtiao Mountain, the imperial army could threaten and cooperate with coastal troops to surround Chongqing to the south, and blockade and divide the Eighth Route Army to the north.
Therefore, after receiving the news of the victory in the Battle of Nakajoyama, the Army Staff Headquarters immediately sent a telegram to congratulate Okamura Neiji and promote him to general.
However, Okamura Neiji was not happy at all, because he had a premonition that the victory in this battle was not as brilliant as others imagined, because most of the enemies were not wiped out, which made him feel a little confused.
At this time Yoshio Shinozuka handed him a telegram, saying: "Your Excellency, General, in this battle, although our army surrounded the Chinese army in many places, it eventually disappeared without a trace. Adachi-kun reported
, they hid in the mountains to deal with our army!"
"Hide in the mountainous area?" Neji Okamura asked without raising his head: "Then, can't we go into the mountainous area to search for them? They have lost their will to fight, so it is not difficult to eliminate them!"
"Your Excellency, General..." Yoshio Shinozuka replied with some embarrassment: "They seem to have learned the tactics of the Eighth Route Army and broke into pieces to fight guerrillas with our army in the mountains!"
Okamura Neiji then turned his attention from the sand table to Shinozuka Yoshio, and asked in surprise: "Shinozuka-kun, you once said that these Chinese troops do not know guerrilla tactics!"
The imperial army did a lot of intelligence work when they attacked Zhongtiao Mountain and knew that the troops stationed in Zhongtiao Mountain had no experience in guerrilla warfare.
"Yes, General!" Yoshio Shinozuka replied: "But...according to the prisoners' answers, the Eighth Route Army has penetrated into Nakajo Mountain and played a role in it!"
Okamura Neiji suddenly realized it. He was silent for a while and then sighed: "These guys actually took advantage of this moment to sneak in while we were still attacking!"
This is exactly what Wang Xuexin’s suggestion did.
But it didn't completely penetrate at this time.
Eighth Route Army intelligence officers and underground workers are everywhere, and there are many in Zhongtiao Mountain, many of whom are capable of fighting guerrilla warfare.
When these intelligence officers and underground workers are surrounded by the devils, there is no need to continue disguising... If this continues, they will not be able to break out of the encirclement and escape death. There is not much difference between disguising and not disguising.
After receiving the order from the leader, they immediately organized and mobilized the stubborn troops to go into the mountains to fight guerrillas.
At this time, the stubborn troops had no other choice but to go into the mountains to deal with the Japanese, although many of them knew that they were following the Eighth Route Army.
There are at least 20,000 people in this stubborn army.
As the saying goes, "The battlefield is a melting pot." These people were constantly "purified" under the pressure of the Japanese's pursuit and survival, and eventually, without exception, they surrendered to the Eighth Route Army.
This principle is somewhat similar to primitive society.
In primitive society, the means of production were extremely limited and there were no surplus labor products, so everyone had to hunt, gather wild fruits, or do some other work.
If someone does not work and enjoys the benefits, others will starve to death and die of exhaustion, and eventually the entire group will collapse.
To put it simply, the environment and conditions do not allow the phenomenon of "people exploiting people" to occur in primitive society, so everyone is equal.
The problem with the recalcitrant army is that too many officials act arrogantly and do not do practical things. This could have been maintained at other times.
But entering a mountainous area that is almost isolated from the world... the power in the hands of officials is almost immediately invalidated. In order to survive, everyone must unify their thoughts and reintegrate, otherwise it will be a dead end.
At this time, the Eighth Route Army's discipline, fairness, impartiality, and military-civilian cooperation will soon prevail.
In addition, the Eighth Route Army continued to provide assistance to them through various channels, such as secretly transporting supplies to these remnant troops and people surviving in the wild through mountain roads or through ordinary people, so it was natural for them to include these troops under their command.
This made Okamura Neji frown.
Because he discovered that the original hope of capturing Zhongtiao Mountain was to mobilize more troops to deal with the Eighth Route Army, but now Zhongtiao Mountain was handed over to the Eighth Route Army... The imperial army seemed to be clearing the way for the Eighth Route Army. Wherever they hit the Eighth Route Army
Wherever we open up base areas and war behind enemy lines.
As a result, instead of getting better, the situation has worsened.
In fact, Okamura Neiji should have understood this a long time ago, because the stubborn army has been cooperating with the Japanese to encircle and blockade the Eighth Route Army.
Now that the Japanese have eliminated the powerful "assistant" of the stubborn army, won't they have to encircle and blockade them themselves?
And by the way, they pushed a large wave of stubborn troops into the arms of the Eighth Route Army.
But this is only one of them.
Then Yoshio Shinozuka reported: "Your Excellency, General, it is said..."
"What is said?" Okamura Neji vaguely felt that this was not good news.
Sure enough, Yoshio Shinozuka replied: "We have received information that the Eighth Route Army is actively seeking cooperation with the Jinsui Army. The Jinsui Army is probably providing ammunition to the Eighth Route Army!"
Okamura Neji was stunned for a moment, but then he sighed helplessly.
This is what Okamura Neiji has always been worried about, and it is also the reason why he previously pursued the principle of "pull one faction to fight another".
The imperial army had done a good job in this regard before, that is, it took advantage of the internal contradictions of the Chinese army to treat them differently. For example, it went all out to encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army but attracted the Jinsui Army and the Chongqing Army.
But this time, in order to capture the strategic area of Zhongtiao Mountain and threaten the flanks of the Eighth Route Army, he could only take action against the Shanxi-Sui Army and the Chongqing Front Army.
The result of this will inevitably unite the Chinese military together again.
It's just that Okamura Neji didn't expect it to happen so soon. He thought that this kind of unity would take at least a few months... It seems that the Eighth Route Army is becoming more and more mature in this regard.
After thinking about it, Okamura Neiji turned his eyes to the sand table again, staring at Luliang Mountain to the north of Zhongtiao Mountain, gritting his teeth and said: "We must launch an attack on the Eighth Route Army as soon as possible. Only in this way can all Chinese soldiers understand that the Eighth Route Army
You cannot be their savior and completely destroy their will!"