A few seconds later, the commander of the reconnaissance unit suddenly shouted: "Sir, I understand!"
"The Eighth Route Army in the assembly area must have escaped disguised as wounded soldiers and prisoners of the Imperial Army."
"In the latter half of last night, a large number of prisoners of the Imperial Association Army, escorted by the Eighth Route Army, carried the wounded away from the assembly area. They must have escaped at that time."
The anger that was rising out of the chief of staff could not be suppressed at last. It was vented like a volcano erupting. He looked at the commander of the reconnaissance force and cursed loudly.
"Ba Ge Ya Lu, you are a stupid pig!"
"Do you know how many artillery shells and aerial bombs we used just to occupy this place? If it weren't for your negligence, these ammunition would not have been wasted, but would have been used on the battlefield, killing and wounding a large number of Eighth Route Army troops."
"Also, if this matter gets out, our entire division will become the laughing stock of our colleagues and we will be unable to hold our heads high."
"You have to take responsibility for this!"
The commander of the reconnaissance force lowered his head and did not dare to speak.
This incident was indeed caused by his mistake.
Seeing that the anger of the Chief of Staff had subsided a lot, he mustered up the courage to call for battle and said: "Sir, these Eighth Route Army soldiers escaped from the front of the army. The army will definitely find them."
"They left here in the middle of the night yesterday, and they brought a lot of baggage and wounded people with them. They definitely couldn't move fast."
"You give me two hours, and I will make sure to find them."
The chief of staff replied solemnly: "Two hours is too slow. I can only give you one hour."
"It's 11 o'clock in the morning. I want the results at 12 o'clock. Then I will spend an afternoon chasing them, killing them, and retreating to Datong City before dark."
"The Eighth Route Army is too cunning, especially the garrison. We must try to avoid night battles with them."
“Boom… da da da…”
As soon as the order was given, gunfire rang out behind the chief of staff.
"The sound of gunfire came from the artillery position." The artillery staff member was the first to react and answered hurriedly.
The chief of staff analyzed with a stern face: "Could it be that the Eighth Route Army we want to destroy has reached the vicinity of the artillery position?"
“Boom… da da da…”
As soon as he finished speaking, the same gunfire rang out again, this time in front of him, at the village he had just captured halfway up the mountain.
"Sir, the artillery position was attacked by the Eighth Route Army. They are equipped with two mortars and two heavy machine guns, with a strength of about one company." A subordinate rushed over from the artillery position panting and reported.
As soon as he finished speaking, a subordinate rushed over from halfway up the mountain.
"Sir, the village we just occupied was attacked by the Eighth Route Army, with one company of troops. The Eighth Route Army was equipped with two mortars and two heavy machine guns."
The chief of staff was worried that he had no place to vent his anger, and the two Eighth Route Army troops that suddenly appeared seemed to be caught in his sights just in time.
Without thinking, he ordered: "The troops will fight back immediately and kill them."
"I want to regain the face I lost by attacking the assembly area just now with these Eighth Route Army troops."
Two reinforced squadrons quickly dispatched and rushed towards the exchange point.
Looking at the rapidly disappearing troops in front of him, the chief of staff thought for a moment and continued to order: "Contact the aircraft in the sky to support us, keep an eye on the battlefield for me, and provide support to the attacking troops at any time."
After speaking, the chief of staff sat on an ammunition box, confidently waiting for the results.
But within two minutes, the accident happened.
"Sir, the firefight on the battlefield has stopped." The subordinate next to him reminded.
Immediately afterwards, a communications officer rushed over panting: "Sir, the Eighth Route Army that attacked the artillery position has retreated. Our squadron leader asked for instructions whether the troops will pursue it."
"Reporting to the commander..." A communications officer also ran over from the direction of the village and reported urgently.
"The Eighth Route Army that attacked the village has also retreated. Should we pursue it?"
The chief of staff was in a dilemma.
The Eighth Route Army was not only powerful in fighting at night, but also in hiding in the mountains during the day and fighting guerrilla warfare.
If the troops rush into pursuit, they will definitely use guerrilla warfare to fight back.
But watching them slip away, the chief of staff felt unwilling to do so.
After finally targeting the main force of the garrison, he had a chance to take revenge. Moreover, he had wasted a lot of artillery shells and bombs just now. If he could not achieve some results and returned empty-handed, he would definitely become the laughing stock of the entire division and disappoint the chief of staff and question him.
own command ability.
If you are very unlucky, you may not even be able to keep your position as chief of staff of your division.
"Sir, if you don't make a decision, it will be too late!" a subordinate reminded.
The commander of the reconnaissance force was about to find the missing garrison through meritorious service.
Now that they have come out on their own initiative, they definitely don't want to miss this good opportunity to follow the clues and ask for help immediately.
"Sir, give chase!"
"The subordinates will send scouts to cooperate with the attacking troops in the pursuit to ensure that the attacking troops will not encounter an ambush by the Eighth Route Army during the pursuit."
"Pursue immediately!" the chief of staff ordered decisively without hesitation.
After thinking for a while, he added: "The terrain here is too complex, which is very unfavorable for us to deploy our troops, so the attacking troops must be careful."
"Each infantry squadron will reinforce one battalion of the Imperial Alliance Army, two heavy machine gun and mortar squads each, bring a radio, and report any situation immediately."
"I will contact the planes in the sky and keep you overhead."
"The other troops will stay here with me to protect the artillery units and be ready to reinforce the attacking troops at any time."
On a hill not far away, the former enemy headquarters of the garrison was moved here at six o'clock in the morning last night.
The method of leaving the assembly area was exactly as judged by the commander of the Japanese reconnaissance unit.
They left the assembly area as puppet soldiers and wounded soldiers, leaving an empty village for the Japanese to attack.
At this moment, Li Hao stood on the high ground, holding a telescope and staring at the battlefield without blinking, wanting to know the next moves of the Japanese and puppet troops as soon as possible.
"Captain, the Japanese seem to have divided their forces and are starting to hunt down our sneak attack troops!" He Jun, the commander of the Hunyuan Independent Battalion, suddenly shouted.
Then a puzzled expression appeared on his face, he looked at Li Hao and asked: "This is incredible, Captain, I can't understand it."
"Is the little devil commander stupid? He dares to send troops even though he knows that splitting up his troops to pursue the sneak attack troops will give us a chance to defeat them."
"He doesn't know that mountain warfare and guerrilla warfare are the specialty of the Eighth Route Army. Are we sure we have a dragnet in the mountains waiting for them to get through?"
Li Hao thought for a moment and replied: "He knows!"
"But he must do this, otherwise he will not be able to step down."
"The reason why I left the secret service company and the thunder artillery unit at the assembly area to lay out an empty city strategy for the Japanese was to make the Japanese mistakenly think that there were troops at the assembly area, and then launch an attack at all costs."
"In the battle just now, the Japanese army made two fire preparations."
"More than a thousand of various artillery shells and aerial bombs were used."
"Moreover, we lost one or two hundred men in the first attack and returned empty-handed without any gain."
"The little devil is not so rich that he can't run out of ammunition. If we withdraw our troops now, what will the commander of the team have to tell us?"
"For this explanation, even if there is a mountain of knives and a sea of fire ahead of us, the Japanese commander will still have to break through."
"Besides, it's daytime now, and there are aircraft cover and support above them. This also gives the little devils a lot of courage to divide their forces to chase us."
