The night shrouded Yuzhuang was a busy place inside and outside, and at all the important intersections in the periphery, there were brothers from the security company with guns on alert.
In a farmyard vacated in the village, brothers from the communications company were busy setting up antennas on the roof and debugging the radio.
The staff officers were all anxious and hurried with various documents in their hands, because a key battle was about to begin. Whether all the troops were in place and if there was any situation, they had to rush and solve it immediately without making any mistakes.
Any large-scale military operation is not a simple matter. Now the Northern Jiangsu Corps is like a huge war machine, which has started to rumble with Yang Ling's order.
But this is just the beginning. Any small mistakes or oversights will lead to setbacks in the battle plan to attack Baoying.
Yang Ling, the highest commander of the Northern Jiangsu Corps, is responsible for making judgments on the overall direction and strategy and controlling the overall situation.
The connection and processing of the various aspects of the distance combat plan are the specific planning of the chief staff officer.
Fortunately, since the victory at Jieshou, the theater headquarters not only parachuted a deputy captain and two battalion commanders to the North Jiangsu Corps, but also sent a group of professional staff officers.
These staff officers are not half-assed staff officers like Lei Xiong and others. They are outstanding in terms of consideration of operational details, formulation of operational plans, and drawing skills.
In the past, the commander-in-chief Yang Ling personally formulated the battle plans, and Lei Xiong and the others were responsible for supplementing them.
Now, the General Staff Office has directly shared most of the tasks on Yang Ling's shoulders, allowing Yang Ling, the commander, to better free up his energy to control the overall situation.
Now that the general formation for attacking in the east has been determined, the specific combat plan will be temporarily revised by the staff, and each unit will be responsible for its execution.
The staff members were busy, and each unit moved towards their respective targets under the cover of darkness, which gave Yang Ling, the commander-in-chief, some leisure time.
"The Fourth Battalion and the Tenth Company have arrived at the predetermined area."
"The Seventh and Eighth Companies of the Second Battalion have arrived at the predetermined area."
"The Second Machine Gun Battery has arrived at the predetermined area."
"There is no movement from the enemy in the east of the city."
"There is no movement from the enemy in the south of the city."
"Three companies of the Fifth Battalion have arrived at the bank of the Baoshe River and can cross the river at any time to launch an attack."
"The fifth guerrilla detachment began to clear the area in area three."
"The eighth guerrilla detachment has taken control of Qingshuikou and captured a squad of puppet soldiers."
...
The Northern Jiangsu Corps has few radio stations. One of the only three radio stations is used at ordinary times, and the rest serve as backups. Only in critical times will one be assigned to the battalion-level troops.
Therefore, the troops in the battalions and companies currently moving towards Baoying County are not equipped with radio stations and rely entirely on traditional communications troops.
Fortunately, in previous battles, the Northern Jiangsu Corps also captured many Japanese soldiers and horses. The Northern Jiangsu Corps did not form a cavalry company, but assigned the generals and horses to various communication platoons to improve their information transmission speed.
As soon as the Commander-in-Chief of Northern Jiangsu Province settled down in Yuzhuang, communications troops came from all directions to report the latest situation.
The staff officers who had just unfolded the map relied on the information gathered to mark the locations of each department and compare them with the plan.
"The fifth battalion? Where is your battalion headquarters?"
While the operational staff were busy marking, the communications company of the command command also pulled up the phone line and started calling the nearest company.
"What, Daluzhuang? Why did you go to Daluzhuang? You are responsible for the west of Baoying. You ran to the north. Hurry to the west."
The military operation was launched in the pitch-black night. Although people had been sent to the front station in advance, there were still many emergencies, and many people got lost and could not be contacted.
Fortunately, all the troops secretly moved towards Baoying under the cover of night. Although it seemed a bit chaotic, the Japanese and puppet defenders of Baoying did not notice the abnormal atmosphere.
Because the Japanese and puppet troops in Baoying had just received news that the Jiangsu North Corps had launched an attack on Gaoyou on the southern front.
Now that the Northern Jiangsu Corps has opened up near Gaoyou on the southern line, Baoying to the north of them means they are safe.
Baoying is now like a nail embedded in the area controlled by the Northern Jiangsu Corps, facing threats from the Northern Jiangsu Corps on three sides.
Captain Kawachi Duanshu, the highest commander of the Japs in Baoying, had always been worried about the Northern Jiangsu Corps launching an attack on them.
Now that the Northern Jiangsu Corps was attacking Gaoyou in the south again, he finally felt relieved.
Although the commander of Gaoyou, Watanabe Shouichi, asked him to actively prepare for the battle, when the time came, he would go south from Baoying and attack the Northern Jiangsu Corps from behind.
But now the Northern Jiangsu Corps has strong troops, and his Baoying defenders plus the puppet troops only have more than a thousand people. It would not be wise to go head-to-head with the Northern Jiangsu Corps, so we should wait until the situation becomes clear before taking action.
What Captain Hanoi Duanshu didn't know was that the North Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps' southward attack on Gaoyou was fake, but the real direction of attack was Baoying in the north, and his target was him.
The Japanese and puppet troops in Baoying City rarely relaxed. In their minds, the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps was far away from them, and they were not worried at all.
Although there are several guerrilla forces active around Baoying, they are not large in scale and pose no threat to Baoying. They can finally sleep peacefully.
"Report, urgent call from Battalion Commander Shen!"
Not long after the radio station was set up, the communications staff hurriedly sent a message to Yang Ling.
The telegram that Yang Ling received was later than that of the Japanese and puppet troops in Baoying, because they had just arrived here.
"Battle Commander Shen has already launched a feint attack on the Japanese and puppet troops in Gaoyou. Everything is going smoothly so far. The Japanese and puppet troops have not seen through the feint attack."
Yang Ling had been waiting for this telegram. When he heard that the southern line was progressing smoothly, Yang Ling felt relieved.
"Then shall we launch an attack immediately?"
It was the first time for deputy captain Yuan Guangtao to command such a large battle, and his thin face was full of excitement.
"Are all the troops in place?" Yang Ling raised his wrist and looked at his watch. It was already three o'clock in the morning.
Deputy Captain Yuan Guangtao replied: "Most of the attacking troops have arrived at the attack position, and a small number of troops are still on the way. They can launch an attack in advance."
After thinking about it, Yang Ling gave up the idea of launching an attack in advance, because it was pitch black and a sudden change of orders would easily cause chaos in the troops if the orders were not conveyed in place.
"We should follow the original plan and launch the attack on time at five o'clock in the morning." Yang Ling ordered.
Although deputy captain Yuan Guangtao wanted to launch an attack in advance, since Yang Ling had already made up his mind, he did not persuade him.
"Captain Yang, do we need to inform the theater headquarters now?" Deputy Captain Yuan Guangtao asked.
In order to ensure the secrecy of the entire military operation, Yang Ling and others did not ask for instructions from the theater headquarters, but prepared to kill first and report later.
Because Yang Ling was worried that if there were spies or agents of the Japanese and puppet troops at the theater headquarters, once the combat plan was reported, it would be very likely to be leaked and the success would be ruined.
An attack was about to be launched now. Since deputy captain Yuan Guangtao mentioned it, Yang Ling felt that even reporting it to the theater headquarters would not affect them now.
"Then you go and report to the officers at the theater headquarters." Yang Ling thought for a while and then ordered.
"Yes!" The deputy captain responded, then turned and walked towards the room where the radio station was installed.