At the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief has not smiled for a long time.
After the problem of food shortage in the base area was solved, although the Eighth Route Army achieved victory in the anti-mopping up phase, the overall strength of the Japanese and puppet troops in North China still far exceeded the Eighth Route Army.
After mopping up the battlefield and failing to gain any advantage, the Japanese and puppet troops immediately turned from offense to defense, and through economic blockade and material blockade, they gradually weakened and encroached on the Eighth Route Army's base areas.
It is certain that the current Eighth Route Army is definitely in the most difficult period since the Anti-Japanese War.
As long as we get through it, there will definitely be a bright future waiting for everyone.
The deputy commander-in-chief has to do one thing every day during this period, which is to ensure the stability of the Eighth Route Army base areas and at the same time find a breakthrough to break the deadlock.
"Chief, good news!" the chief of staff suddenly walked in, holding a telegram in his hand and said excitedly.
"The garrison regiment active in the Lingqiu area has just sent good news. They assembled heavy troops last night, and with the cooperation of the internal response and the puppet uprising troops, they successively captured the three counties of Yuxian, Guangling, and Laiyuan, and wiped out one thousand fourteen Japanese troops.
There were more than 100 puppet troops, nearly 2,000 of them, including nearly 400 who rebelled on the battlefield and more than 1,200 prisoners."
"The participating troops of the garrison suffered more than 900 casualties, almost all of which were caused by street fighting with the Japanese after entering the city."
The deputy commander quickly found these counties on the map, and then his eyes began to shine.
"Comrade Li Hao's appetite in the defense regiment is bigger than we thought, and much bigger."
"After capturing these three counties, the garrison base area was suddenly expanded to five counties, and there was not a single nail of the Japanese and puppet troops within the base area, and they were all connected together."
"As long as they manage this base area well, it won't take long for this base area to support three more garrison regiments."
The chief of staff affirmed without hesitation: "Absolutely."
"Boss, if I'm not wrong, Li Hao has already started thinking about expanding his troops."
The deputy commander didn't show much shock on his face.
Due to limited organizational structure, although many of the main forces of the Eighth Route Army are labeled as a regiment, the number of troops has far exceeded that of a regiment, and many of them have the strength of a main division.
In the words of the deputy commander himself, as long as he has the ability and does not violate discipline, he has no problem with the company commander pulling out a regiment of troops.
The well-equipped garrison is known here at the headquarters. In this battle, they conquered three counties in a row, killed two to three thousand Japanese puppet troops, and must have captured a lot of equipment.
In addition, they have their own arsenal, which can produce and reload some ammunition, and the ammunition problem is also solved.
The equipment and ammunition are available, and the base area is large enough to support so many troops. As the head of the garrison, Li Hao has no reason not to expand his troops.
After thinking for a while, he asked: "If I remember correctly, the garrison regiment already has three main battalions and four independent battalions."
"If we expand further, the total strength will almost catch up with a main brigade."
The chief of staff shook his head and replied: "Boss, you underestimate Comrade Li Hao too much. His appetite is bigger than we thought."
After speaking, the chief of staff took out another telegram: "This is another secret telegram sent by Comrade Li Hao."
"He has taken a fancy to Datong City, which the Jinsui Army had just failed to attack, and has already started to take action."
"Datong City?" The deputy commander immediately found the specific location of Datong City on the map. After thinking for half a minute, he replied: "It's not impossible."
"Datong City is almost surrounded by the Jinsui Army and us. It is a truly isolated city."
"As long as their limited forces can be used up little by little outside the city, the United Guard Corps and the Northwestern Shanxi Base Area are definitely more than 80% sure to be captured."
The chief of staff said: "Comrade Li Hao also has this idea, and has already started to put it into action."
"This time, in conjunction with the Jin-Sui army's feigned attack on Datong, the garrison fought all the way outside Datong City. When they retreated, they left behind an independent battalion and a large amount of weapons and equipment. They planned to take advantage of the lack of Japanese and puppet troops in Datong to take root outside Datong City and build several buildings.
A guerrilla zone and found our own armed forces."
"After capturing Yu County, the independent battalion operating in Yu County also began to move towards Datong."
"His goal is to expand the combat troops of the two independent battalions to 1,000 men each within half a year."
"There are two thousand elites cooperating in the heart of the Japanese. Once the siege begins, they will definitely quickly eat up the Japanese and puppet troops stationed outside the city, without giving them a chance to return to Datong City to aid."
"The idea is very good, I completely agree." The deputy commander affirmed.
"When the siege begins, two or three regiments from northwestern Shanxi will be dispatched to attack Datong, attracting some of the Datong defenders. Then the combat pressure on the garrison will be even less."
"They have heavy artillery in their hands, as well as several tanks and armored vehicles that have been captured by the Japs. As long as they open a gap in the city defenses and send troops into the city, they can wipe out all the Japanese and puppet troops in Datong City even with all their efforts.
."
The chief of staff replied: "I also agree with Comrade Li Hao's idea."
"If we can capture Datong, we will definitely be able to seize a large amount of materials and funds, which will greatly ease the pressure caused by the economic blockade of the Japanese and puppet troops."
"At the same time, it will have a huge political impact, and it will also have more negotiating weight with the Shanxi-Sui Army."
"Not bad!" The deputy commander's eyes quickly shot out two rays of light and then replied.
"I will call Comrade Li Hao back soon. I support him in attacking Datong."
The chief of staff continued: "Two more things."
"The garrison group pretended to attack Datong. In addition to leaving an ambush in Datong, it also eliminated a large number of Japanese and puppet troops in the battle and gained many benefits."
"Because the weapons have different calibers, the garrison decided to hand over some of the captured equipment and ammunition for us to distribute."
The deputy commander-in-chief didn't pay much attention to this matter. He thought about it before replying: "Just give it to the nearest Eighth Route Army. There is no need for the headquarters to decide on this small matter."
The chief of staff shook his head and reminded: "Boss, this is no small matter."
"If it weren't for the fact that Datong City is still in the hands of the Japanese army, I would have suspected that this guy Li Hao looted Datong City."
"Um?" The deputy commander became interested and looked at the chief of staff waiting for his next words.
The chief of staff continued to answer: "There are a total of 4,528 rifles equipped by the Jinsui Army and 2,173 rifles equipped by the puppet army. This includes the capture of three counties by the garrison."
"There are also a large number of bombed rifles. A conservative estimate is that their arsenal can repair and assemble at least 1,200 rifles, which adds up to nearly 8,000 rifles."
"Hiss, hiss..." the deputy commander took a breath and shouted.
"Why are there so many?" the chief of staff replied: "Boss, please listen to me read out the list first. There are many treasures behind it. I will explain to you later."
"In addition to rifles, there are 159 79-caliber light machine guns, and nearly 20 more that can be repaired."
"There are 29 Maxim heavy machine guns, and there are 6 more that can be repaired."
"11 82mm caliber mortars, 23 60-caliber mortars, and five Shanxi orogenic guns."
"There are nearly 800,000 rounds of various bullets and shells in total."
"In addition, they are mobilizing ordinary people in enemy-occupied areas to help collect bullet casings left on the battlefield."
"The Jinsui Army fought outside Datong City for nearly ten days and consumed a lot of ammunition."
"Comrade Li Hao specially set up two bullet reloading production lines to reload these bullet casings."
"Conservative estimates suggest that the garrison regiment's arsenal will be able to produce at least three million rounds of 79-caliber bullets in the next six months to support the headquarters."
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