The chief of staff was frightened by the army commander's huge appetite. He hesitated and reminded: "Sir, would it be too much to confiscate half of the food directly?"
"The drought in North China has not eased. The little food harvested in the occupied areas is not enough for the Chinese people to last until the autumn harvest."
"If we take away half of them at once, they will be hungry for at least half a year."
"By then, there will definitely be famine in the occupied areas, and people will starve to death in large areas."
The army commander was unmoved and insisted on the order: "Just follow my order just now."
Seeing that the chief of staff was still talking, he snorted and replied: "As for the Chinese in the occupied areas, if they don't have food, they can eat wild vegetables."
"The imperial army is not good enough. They want to expand the territory of the Japanese Empire, so they must eat well and have enough to eat."
"Taking a step back, even if there is a famine in the occupied areas and some people starve to death, it will be the Eighth Route Army's fault."
"Don't they claim that the military and civilians are one family? The common people are water and they are the fish? They will definitely find ways to find food for the common people who are short of food and prevent them from starving to death."
The chief of staff suddenly realized and shouted: "I understand, sir, you have another purpose in doing this: to create pressure on the Eighth Route Army operating in the occupied areas."
"If the people run out of food, they will also run out of food."
"If an army doesn't even have enough to eat, it will definitely have low morale and no fighting spirit."
"If the imperial army attacks them again, they will get twice the result with half the effort."
The army commander agreed: "This is just one aspect."
"When the imperial army collects food, the Eighth Route Army will definitely come out to protect the food, which is not much in the first place."
"The reason why those Eighth Route Army troops are not easily eliminated is because they are so good at hiding, they come and go without a trace, and they never confront the imperial army head-on."
"If they want to protect food, they will definitely be exposed."
"Each mopping up force can seize the opportunity to severely damage the Eighth Route Army lurking in the occupied areas."
"Destroy some of the Eighth Route Army while the food is being collected, and then attack after they run out of food, and eliminate some of their troops, and the Eighth Route Army lurking in the occupied areas will be gone."
At the headquarters of the garrison regiment, political commissar Wang Hong hurriedly walked in, with a solemn expression on his face that he had not seen for a long time.
"Captain, the Japanese Taiyuan Military Headquarters gave orders to the little devils in our base area."
"This is the original manuscript, sent by the deputy commander of the puppet army who was instigated by the commando to rebel."
Li Hao quickly read the information at a glance, then frowned and replied: "The little devil has a big appetite!"
"Use the autumn grain in the base area as bait to force our latent troops out to fight them. Then put the pressure of the villagers to run out of food on us, and let us follow the villagers to run out of food. Finally, while we are hungry and the morale of the army is turbulent, we will be eliminated in one fell swoop.
."
Hong Linfeng said: "Regiment leader, political commissar, I didn't expect that the little devil's battle plan coincided with our ideas."
"The regiment commander mentioned in the last order given by the regiment headquarters to the independent battalion: use autumn grain as bait to lure out the Japanese and puppet troops trapped in the stronghold, and take the opportunity to kill more and prepare for the next counterattack."
Li Hao said: "Since we all want to make a fuss about autumn grain, let's see who is more skilled."
Wang Hong hesitated and asked: "Captain, how sure are you?"
"Seventy percent!" Li Hao analyzed without thinking much, looking at his two partners.
"A few months ago, I would have only been 30% sure, but it's different now."
"I have a hunch: the Japanese commander in Taiyuan City does not know the latest situation on the front line, and his thoughts are still stuck a few months ago. He formulated this combat plan based on the comparison of the enemy's and our strength at that time."
"In the past few months, we have accumulated a small amount and consumed a large number of Japanese and puppet troops."
"The mobile troops of the Japanese and puppet troops in many blockade areas have dropped sharply from the initial five to six hundred to the current two to three hundred, or even more than a hundred."
"But our latent troops are constantly developing. The worst one has a full company of 150 people."
"There is still the last month before the autumn harvest. We will definitely kill many Japanese and puppet troops piecemeal."
"During the autumn harvest, their mobile troops will definitely be less, and our latent troops will be more."
"One thing is going down, the other is going up, what are they going to use to steal food from us!"
"So our defense regiment has at least a 70% chance of winning this battle for food."
"Chief of Staff, please immediately sort out the Japanese combat plan and send it to several independent battalions so that they can prepare in advance."
At the Guanshan Town stronghold, Captain Yoshida began to make preparations after receiving the order to collect grain.
In the past few months, the mobile troops in hand have been reduced sharply to 150 people, and the number of troops stationed in each stronghold has been reduced by nearly one-third.
In order to make up for these troop gaps, in the absence of reinforcements, Captain Yoshida decisively drew people from the Maintenance Association to expand the Imperial Association Army. He used the Imperial Association Army to replace the Imperial Army to defend the stronghold, and gathered the extra Imperial Army into mobile units to form a mobile force.
Fist, form a mixed squadron and conduct mobile operations in the blockade area.
In order to complete the task of collecting food and take the opportunity to severely damage the Eighth Route Army hiding in the blockade area, Captain Yoshida not only strengthened all the cars in the stronghold into mobile units, but also gave them several mountain guns and mortars in his hand, allocating all the troops in the blockade area.
All the soldiers were mobilized to strengthen the mobile force to 200 people and become a reinforced squadron.
Despite this, Captain Yoshida still did not dare to let the mobile troops be dispatched rashly.
The Eighth Route Army's guerrilla warfare is so powerful. One imperial soldier was injured today and another imperial soldier was killed tomorrow...
It seems that the casualties are very small, and the combat effectiveness is almost not affected.
As time goes by, you will find that this method of fighting is too powerful, and even piecemeal attacks can make an army lose its combat effectiveness.
By the time you realize the danger, the troops have suffered heavy casualties and are unable to recover.
Captain Yoshida suffered enough losses in this regard, so he would never use mobile troops without certainty.
"Sir, how can the imperial army collect food if there is no mobile unit?" the deputy captain questioned.
"Let the maintenance meeting take place!" Captain Yoshida replied with a cold snort.
"This is a good opportunity to verify which maintenance will be controlled by the Eighth Route Army and which will not, so that the Imperial Army can settle accounts in the future."
"Send me an order: After the autumn harvest, each maintenance committee will prepare the grain that the imperial army will collect, and take the initiative to deliver it to the nearest stronghold within the specified time. If the task is not completed, the maintenance committee and the villages to which it belongs will be treated as collaborators and all will be shot."
"Currently, I am most suspicious of the maintenance of Dawangzhuang. Let's start with Dawangzhuang to scare the monkeys."
"Tell the Dawangzhuang Maintenance Committee to deliver the grain to the Zhouzhuang stronghold within three days after the autumn harvest."
"If this is not done, the mobile troops will immediately attack and surround Dawangzhuang. All members of the Maintenance Association and suspicious persons in the village will be treated as collaborators and shot in front of everyone."
"Use iron-fisted measures to intimidate other maintenance committees and ordinary people in the blockade area, so that they dare not approach the Eighth Route Army and obediently send us food."