"Division commander, something happened!" the chief of staff reported hurriedly before Lieutenant General Ito could speak.
"An urgent telegram from Xiangning County. A large number of Eighth Route Army troops have appeared in their territory. When the telegram was sent, several strongholds outside the city had been captured, and the number of casualties among the imperial troops exceeded a hundred!"
"They are worried that the Eighth Route Army will attack the county after conquering these strongholds. Please ask us to send troops to reinforce them immediately!"
Lieutenant General Ito quickly walked to the map and found the Xiangning County that the Chief of Staff had just mentioned.
Then he frowned and asked: "How many troops are there in Xiangning? They only lost more than a hundred imperial troops and asked for help. Where did their courage to bully the Chinese people go?"
The chief of staff immediately replied: "The Imperial Army has a garrison brigade, and the Imperial Association Army has a garrison regiment~"
"However, this garrison brigade is not a reinforcement brigade, it is just a mixed brigade. It has three infantry squadrons, a heavy machine gun squadron, and a mortar squadron. It is not equipped with infantry guns and other artillery. The total strength is less than seven
Hundreds of people."
"Including the Imperial Alliance Army, the total strength is more than 1,600, of which more than 900 are stationed in a dozen large and small strongholds outside the city, and the remaining 600 or so are stationed in the county seat!"
"If the Eighth Route Army can really kill more than a dozen strongholds outside the city in a short period of time, and there are more than 600 people in the city, they will definitely not be able to defend the county seat!"
"Bage Ya Road, what time is it now, why do we need those strongholds? Send them a telegram, abandon all strongholds outside the city, and concentrate our forces to defend the county. As long as the county is saved, Xiangning County will still be ours!" Lieutenant General Ito calmly said
Face ordered.
"Hi!" the chief of staff replied immediately.
He hesitated and asked: "Then shall we send reinforcements to them?"
Lieutenant General Ito did not answer, but stared at the map in deep thought.
It took nearly half a minute to reply: "No, we don't have any extra troops to send out!"
The division commander's answer was definitely perfunctory. Although the division lost troops and generals, Linfen City still gathered more than 10,000 people. Not to mention too much, there is no problem in randomly sending two to three thousand people to reinforce Xiangning County.
However, the division commander actually said that there were no soldiers. The chief of staff immediately realized that there must be something in the division commander's words that he had not said.
He hesitated and asked: "Division Commander, did you think of something?"
"Not bad!" Lieutenant General Ito didn't hide anything.
Pointing to Xiangning County and Hepu County on the map, he analyzed.
"Have you ever thought about what consequences it would have for our Imperial Army if the Eighth Route Army occupied these two counties?"
The chief of staff was stunned for a few seconds, and then suddenly realized, "The city of Linfen where we are located will become an isolated city, and our division will also become an isolated army!"
"The Eighth Route Army is everywhere around us, and neither supplies nor equipment can be transported in. If the Eighth Route Army takes over these two counties and blocks all the roads leading to Linfen City, the large amount of food they need to consume every day can drag us down.
collapse!"
Lieutenant General Ito shook his head and answered.
"You only see one aspect and ignore the other!"
"After the Eighth Route Army captures these two places, not only will we become a lone army, but the other division left in southwestern Shanxi will also become a lone army! This is related to the safety of the 30,000 to 40,000 elite troops of the North China Front, and they must not be allowed to leave.
Accident!"
The chief of staff was frightened and asked: "Division commander, you mean that Tubal Road is executing this plan, blocking us from the troops staying in southwest Shanxi, turning us into a lone army, and slowly consuming us!"
"It's very possible!" Lieutenant General Ito replied calmly.
"Although there is no direct evidence yet, the battles during this period made me realize that our opponents are more cunning and difficult to deal with than we thought. If we can think of this, they must be able to think of it too!"
"Also, we have just lost the battle and the morale of the troops is low. If I were the commander of the Eighth Route Army, I would definitely seize the opportunity and capture these places!"
"The Eighth Route Army must not be allowed to succeed... These places must not be occupied by the Eighth Route Army, and our retreat cannot be cut off!" the chief of staff exclaimed directly.
Then he asked: "Division commander, now that we know the battle plan that the Eighth Route Army is probably executing, can we make preparations now to defend these counties, or directly send troops to reinforce them to defend the counties!"
"I believe that even if the front army knows this plan, they will order us to defend these counties at all costs!"
"Reinforcements must not be sent!" Lieutenant General Ito answered decisively.
"The Eighth Route Army is too cunning, and so far we don't know their true losses in this encirclement and suppression! Not only that, they also captured a large number of artillery pieces that should have belonged to us during this battle."
"Troops, equipment, ammunition, they have everything!"
"When they don't have heavy artillery, they can concentrate their forces to kill one of our regiments at a time. Although they have lost a lot of troops, they have replenished a lot of heavy weapons, especially heavy artillery. One by one, they will definitely kill one of us.
The strength of the alliance.”
"In this case, how many troops do you want me to send to reinforce them?"
"If this is a conspiracy of the Eighth Route Army and we send fewer troops, it will be a sheep entering the tiger's mouth."
"More troops have been sent out, but we don't have that many troops..."
"So, reinforcements must not be sent!"
The chief of staff continued to ask: "Then how can we defend these counties?"
Lieutenant General Ito immediately made a decision: "Immediately send telegrams to the garrisons in these counties."
"All garrison troops will abandon their strongholds outside the city and concentrate their forces inside the city to defend it!"
"In order to ensure the imperial army's control of these places, we can temporarily hand over these strongholds to some Chinese who cooperate with our actions and let them help us control the places!"
This was the only way the chief of staff could think of to solve the problem. Just as he was about to turn around and give the order, a communications staff officer rushed in.
"Sir, urgent call from Hepu County!"
"They found a large number of Eighth Route Army troops in their territory and are attacking strongholds within their jurisdiction. Three strongholds have been lost now. Continue to reinforce!"
Lieutenant General Ito's face sank and he cursed: "Bagya Road... our response was still a step too slow!"
"Go and send a telegram immediately. If you retreat a minute earlier, the troops stationed in those places will lose dozens less men, and there will be dozens more troops to protect the county..."
The chief of staff did not dare to neglect and immediately replied: "I am humble enough to give orders now!"
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