At the Japanese brigade headquarters in Laiyuan City, the communications staff rushed in with a nervous look on their faces.
"General, our radio contact with Lingqiu City has been interrupted. This is the last telegram they sent, and it was cut off after only receiving half of the signal."
The content of the telegram was very simple, with only a dozen words: "The Eighth Route Army has entered the garrison headquarters, and Lieutenant Colonel Yamaguchi died in battle..."
The brigade commander finished reading at a glance, then stared at the communications staff officer and asked: "Where is the chief of staff? Is there no news about him yet?"
"According to the normal marching speed, they should have arrived outside Lingqiu City three hours ago. Why didn't the Lingqiu garrison even see the shadow of reinforcements?"
The communications staff officer shook his head and replied: "We had contact with the chief of staff three and a half hours ago. They were intercepted by the Eighth Route Army five kilometers away from Lingqiu."
"Report from the Chief of Staff: The Eighth Route Army's blocking position will definitely be broken through within half an hour and Lingqiu will be reinforced."
"Then our communication with the chief of staff was lost."
"Bang..." The brigade leader punched the edge of the sand table, stared at the sand table and cursed: "Can anyone tell me what happened on the front line?"
"With a distance of five kilometers, the reinforcements can climb to Lingqiu City even if they crawl. Why is there no news at all now, and more than 3,000 imperial troops seem to have disappeared out of thin air? Do the garrison regiments have such a big appetite to annihilate them all?"
This guess was so bold that no staff member dared to answer the question. They all lowered their heads and said nothing.
"Something happened, sir, the reinforcements are finished, I want to see the brigade commander!" A voice suddenly sounded outside the war room.
The guard captain hurried in: "Sir, there is a second lieutenant outside, claiming to be an officer of the heavy artillery brigade. He is anxious to see you, but he has no ID!"
"Heavy Artillery Brigade?" A bad premonition flashed through the brigade commander's mind.
"If I remember correctly, the heavy artillery battalion went to reinforce Lingqiu with the chief of staff. He must have come back with news from the chief of staff. Let him come in immediately."
"General, it's over, the heavy artillery brigade is over, the reinforcements are over too!" the second lieutenant rushed in and shouted with a look of despair.
The brigade leader felt nervous and cursed loudly: "Baga! What's the end? Please make it clear!"
"General, the main force of the garrison did not attack Lingqiu at all. They were laying siege to the city for reinforcements."
"What we encountered on the road was not the blocking position of the garrison, but their carefully prepared pocket formations."
"They attacked us with twenty heavy artillery pieces. The heavy artillery brigade was gone before it could enter the battlefield, and the infantry also suffered heavy losses. Then they were chased all the way by the garrison infantry and cavalry, and the entire army was destroyed!"
"I saved my life by hiding in the woods next to the highway, and on my way back I saw the cavalry brigade that had been wiped out by the Eighth Route Army."
"Hundreds of cavalrymen are dead. Their corpses are all over the road. There are cavalrymen and warhorses. It's so tragic..."
The brigade commander understood when he heard the words "siege the city and call for reinforcements..." and he suddenly collapsed on the stool, his whole body weak.
I worked out this battle plan after countless calculations, but in the end, not only did I not eliminate the garrison, but it also included thousands of imperial troops.
The brigade leader forced himself to calm down. At this time, he could no longer panic.
The garrison can eat four or five thousand of its own people in one night. If it takes advantage of the situation and eats a few thousand more of its own people because its thoughts are confused, then it will be over for the brigade.
After taking a deep breath, he asked: "You just said that the garrison used twenty heavy artillery in the battle to siege you. Is this information exaggerated? Do you dare to issue a military order?"
"I dare to use my own head to vouch for my humble position. There is not a single exaggeration in the report just now." The second lieutenant replied confidently.
"In addition to twenty heavy guns, they also used many large-caliber mortars and ordinary mortars."
"By the way, they also used anti-aircraft machine guns,"
"The tanks and combat vehicles equipped by the reinforcements were destroyed by anti-aircraft machine guns."
The brigade commander's face became more and more solemn, and he stared at the second lieutenant and continued to ask: "What is their exposed combat effectiveness, and how many troops they have in total."
This time the second lieutenant did not answer immediately. He thought for a moment before speaking: "I don't know exactly how many troops there are."
"My humble job is artillery and I didn't directly participate in the battle."
"Some of the information I know is from the mouths of the infantry, and it is not certain."
"They said that there were only more than a thousand Eighth Route Army soldiers chasing us. The Chief of Staff originally wanted to fight back, but was caught off guard by the cavalry. The counterattack force was completely destroyed, and then they had to be chased and beaten by the Eighth Route Army."
The brigade leader was silent for two minutes and then replied: "I seem to understand."
"During the previous sweeps, the garrison did suffer heavy casualties, but they had a very powerful artillery unit, so they dared to lay siege to the city for reinforcements and ambush our reinforcements."
"When the battle begins, first use heavy artillery to kill our heavy artillery troops, and then use heavy artillery to hit our infantry."
"They are too powerful. No matter how powerful the imperial army's combat effectiveness is, they cannot fight under heavy artillery attacks, so the reinforcements can only retreat."
"In order to prevent the retreat from turning into a rout, the chief of staff can only continue to divide the troops to the rear, giving the Eighth Route Army's pursuers a chance to divide and destroy us."
"There are also their cavalry units. On the way back, our infantry did not have heavy weapons and had little ability to protect themselves in the face of cavalry raids. They could only be beaten passively..."
The brigade commander was very powerful, and he guessed Li Hao's entire battle plan in just a few words, but it was too late, and it was impossible for the destroyed troops to come back alive.
However, the battle is not over.
He still has troops in his hands and a chance to turn defeat into victory.
He raised his eyebrows and began to issue orders: "Immediately send a telegram to the garrisons in the three surrounding counties."
"Immediately after daybreak, the troops will be assembled to evacuate the county and return to Laiyuan to aid."
"The garrison is equipped with heavy artillery and has a very strong attack capability. Ordinary county towns will definitely not be able to stop their attack."
"The purpose of dividing the troops and garrisoning them in these counties is to give the garrison regiments the opportunity to attack each one, which is a waste of troops."
"I want to gather all the troops into Laiyuan City and build it into an indestructible fortress. It is like a nail stuck in the heart of the garrison, threatening the security of their base at any time."
"When the main force takes Datong, we will sweep the offensive garrison together and kill them."
The enemy headquarters in front of the garrison, various battle reports are collected here one after another.
Compared with the last time when the Zhonggu United Force was completely annihilated, Hong Linfeng had obviously more smiles on his face this time.
The last time we fought a war of annihilation, it was a head-to-head encounter, and the Japanese had time to destroy excess weapons and ammunition.
In this battle of annihilation, the Japanese wished they had longer legs and could run faster. They had no time to turn around and destroy the weapons of the soldiers who died in the battle.
Especially in the assembly areas covered by heavy artillery, in order to reduce the load and allow them to run faster, many heavy weapons and ammunition were directly thrown on the battlefield without anyone paying attention.
This is a big gain for the garrison that has used up all its mortar shells.
With these captures, those mortars can finally be used again in the war, instead of being used as scrap metal and piled in warehouses as decorations.
"Regiment Commander, Chief of Staff, the captured heavy artillery has been counted: eight heavy artillery are intact, four were damaged and can only be dismantled and used as parts. In addition, 586 rounds of artillery shells were seized." Heavy artillery battalion commander Yuan Qingfeng rushed in to report.
He said, with an excited look on his face.
Including these eight heavy artillery pieces, the garrison regiment has twenty-eight heavy artillery pieces. Although he still holds the title of battalion commander, he is commanding a veritable heavy artillery regiment.
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