It was still dark at the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan, but the atmosphere in the headquarters was very good.
The lieutenant general and chief of staff all had smiles on their faces.
"Sir, this is the good news just sent from Guanshan Town. They won a great victory with very few casualties tonight."
"Not only did the garrison fail to destroy the blockade trenches and walls we built during the day, but they also lost more than a thousand people and then retreated in disgrace. There were more than 800 corpses left on the battlefield."
"After this battle, the Eighth Route Army will definitely not dare to try to block our wall again."
"As long as the blockade wall along this line is repaired, the base area occupied by the garrison will be divided into several pieces."
"At that time, the imperial army can concentrate its superior forces, defeat them one by one, and eliminate all the resistance forces inside."
The commander's face was also full of smiles.
Coupled with tonight's victory and this large-scale sweep of the garrison, the Imperial Army has won two battles at the beginning.
Although these were small victories that did not affect the outcome of the battle, they were enough to prove that the strategy and guidelines of this sweep were correct.
In the eyes of the commander, the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Army must be greater than that of the Eighth Route Army. As long as the general direction of the sweep is correct, the Imperial Army will not make the mistake of underestimating the enemy's advance during the sweep, strictly implement the orders of the military headquarters, and fight steadily, the final victory will definitely belong to them.
After forcibly suppressing the joy, the commander's smiling face returned to seriousness: "Chief of Staff, as long as the battle is not over and the garrison has not been completely wiped out by us, everyone must not be careless."
"Send a telegram to the imperial army in Guanshan Town. After the garrison has nothing to do with the blockade ditch and blockade line, they will definitely focus on them, attack them, and directly solve the problem fundamentally."
"They must strengthen their vigilance and prepare for battle, so that the garrison will be defeated again."
"Also, the operation to eliminate the heavy artillery battalion of the garrison cannot be stopped. As long as they still have one heavy artillery, the bombing will continue."
At ten o'clock in the morning, the heavy artillery battalion, which had only three real guns, was bombed by Japanese aircraft in the mountains away from Gangziling's 25th attack.
When the fleet left, the four damaged "heavy artillery" were dragged out of the forest and left in a swaggering manner.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the remaining six heavy guns continued to set off.
Compared with last night, although there were fewer cannons, the escort troops were more heavily guarded. Nearly half of the Japanese and puppet agents were killed by the escort troops.
Although the agents suffered heavy losses, the remaining agents still reported the latest situation of the heavy artillery battalion to the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan, preparing for the third bombing.
At the same time, a grain transport team appeared on the Gangziling Highway. There were cars and large trucks that were rare in the base area, a total of thirty vehicles, all loaded with grain, heading towards Guanshan Town.
After arriving at Gangziling, the motorcade suddenly stopped.
A platoon of escort troops quickly broke away from the convoy and rushed into the woods on both sides of the road to search in squad units.
From the outside, this search must be related to the bombing the day before yesterday.
Half an hour later, the convoy continued to set off. The number of carts and cars was still thirty, neither more nor less.
From a distance, it seems that the entire fleet has not changed at all.
But if you look closely, you will find some problems. Among them, ten large vehicles are obviously more bloated than other large vehicles.
They were all disguised as artillery carts. The barrels were tied with thatch and covered with raincloths. From a distance, they looked like a large cart loaded with grain.
As for the original ten grain trucks, half an hour was enough for the mobile battalion to hide them in the woods.
After the matter is over, they will be distributed to various places.
There are also spies keeping an eye on the food team, but there are not many of them, and because the food team is frequently attacked, the escort team is very vigilant. They can only watch from a distance and do not dare to get too close.
Under the cover of night, they did not see the civet cat exchange for a prince hidden in the woods.
At the garrison headquarters, Li Hao has been waiting in the war room for news.
Whether the heavy artillery battalion participates in the war or not is related to whether the garrison can attack Guanshan Town. If I don't receive a telegram that the heavy artillery battalion's operation is going smoothly, I can't sleep in bed.
"Captain, it's done!" Hong Linfeng rushed in like a storm and shouted excitedly.
"The heavy artillery battalion and the grain transport team have successfully merged and are on their way. If nothing goes wrong, they will arrive at Guanshan Town the night after tomorrow."
Li Hao took a long breath: "It's good to be here."
"Chief of Staff, I have decided to make a quick decision."
"The longer this critical battle drags on, the stronger the fortifications built by the Japs in Guanshan Town will be, and the greater the pressure will be on us to capture them."
"At twelve o'clock the day after tomorrow, the troops will launch the attack on time."
"The heavy artillery battalion must be in place before ten o'clock, set up artillery positions for an hour, rest for an hour, and then participate in the battle."
The garrison regiment was dispatching troops and preparing supplies outside. It was impossible for the little Japs in Guanshan Town not to know.
Coupled with the reminder telegram sent to them by the military headquarters, the colonel guarding here became more cautious.
Every night, subordinates are called to a meeting to understand the progress of the stronghold construction and urge them to continue to speed up.
Only by building the stronghold stronger can you have the confidence to defend it.
"Sir, the cement bunkers on the two outer defense lines have been repaired, but due to limited time, they are not at their strongest yet." A captain under his command reported.
"We shouldn't be able to wait that long, these bunkers will come in handy." Colonel replied helplessly.
"The reconnaissance force reported that nearly 2,000 Eighth Route Army troops have gathered around us."
"The military department has judged that the next target of the garrison will definitely be us, so everyone must prepare for the worst and fight the garrison before the stronghold is repaired."
Having said this, the colonel directly turned his attention to the engineer captain: "Sakura-kun, you are an engineer expert. Is there any way to increase the strength of these bunkers in a short period of time so that they can withstand the continuous bombardment of artillery shells?"
"If that doesn't work, we can just let them survive the gunfire for a few more minutes."
The engineer captain thought for a few seconds and then replied: "There is a way,"
"You can pile sandbags on top of the bunker, the thicker the better, and use the sandbags to offset the destructive power of the shells."
"Unless all the artillery shells fired by the garrison hit one point, blowing up all the sandbags we covered on the bunker, and then several consecutive shells directly hit the bunker, it will never be destroyed."
"What about the shock wave? Many soldiers on the battlefield were killed by the shock wave, not directly by the artillery shells."
The engineer captain replied confidently: "Sir, don't worry, we have been prepared for this."
"The bunker is built with cement and is very strong. Unless the bomb directly hits the bunker, and the heavy artillery shells hit it continuously, the shock wave will not kill the soldiers inside, and will at most stun them."
"Yo Xi!" Colonel finally felt relieved.
"Starting from tomorrow, half of the personnel will continue to repair the turrets and bunkers, while the rest will reinforce the bunkers that have been repaired and prepare to face the garrison that may launch an attack."
