At the headquarters of the Japanese North China Front, the commander rushed to the war room at dawn.
The chief of staff knew what the commander was worried about and quickly reported: "Your Excellency, the aviation force dispatched a total of six bombers to carry out three large-scale bombings on Yixian County yesterday. The intelligence showed that the grain depots in the city and the military columns outside the city were bombed.
was destroyed, please don’t worry.”
The worry on the commander's face was much lessened.
There is so much food in Yi County that it can feed 40,000 to 50,000 people for a year. If it falls into the hands of the Eighth Route Army, it will definitely make up for their food gap in large quantities and feed tens of thousands more troops. The imperial army has blocked them for so long.
The results of the battle will also be in vain.
Looking at the chief of staff, he continued to ask: "How is the war situation in the counties surrounding Yixian County?"
"The Eighth Route Army hiding in their defense area took the initiative to show up. Such an opportunity is not common. We must seize the opportunity to catch them all."
"These places are too close to Peiping, and they are on the only way for the imperial army to move south. They must be stabilized and there must be no security risks."
The chief of staff knew the reasoning behind this, but the battlefield was too far away from here, and he was beyond his reach.
He shook his head and replied: "The specific situation is not clear yet."
"The imperial army in these places only started to counterattack last night. The fighting must not have ended so quickly, so the headquarters has not received a battle report yet."
"If the commander is in a hurry, the subordinates can call them to learn about the battle situation."
"No hurry!" the commander replied, shaking his head.
"I believe in the frontline commanders. They will definitely not let me down. I will wait a little longer."
At the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, just after dawn, the good news that the independent regiment had captured Laishui County was forwarded all the way here.
After reading the good news, the boss's face lit up with joy. He didn't expect that a small-scale attack launched to cover the garrison could have such unexpected gains. It was so unexpected.
It is certain that after taking Laishui County, even if the independent group gives up voluntarily a few days later, the little devils will not be able to stop their growing momentum of development.
After a period of time, the independent regiment will definitely be able to open up a large number of base areas outside the mountains, and the army will also develop into a well-known main regiment.
Seeing the smile on the boss's face getting thicker and thicker, the chief of staff continued: "Not only the independent regiment, but also several independent battalions and guerrilla brigade in the surrounding area have achieved considerable results."
"The garrison regiment that occupied Yixian County was unwilling to be left alone. One-third of its troops were left to continue to blockade Yixian County. The other troops entered the enemy-occupied areas in squads and platoons to cooperate with them in the battle."
"Last night alone, the participating troops killed more than 3,000 Japanese puppet troops and recovered a large number of villages and towns occupied by the Japanese."
"The troops who used to be able to hide in the mountains and fight guerrillas with the Japanese are now all coming out of the mountains."
"I suggest that these troops seize the opportunity to continue to expand their results, strive to control a base area outside the city, and develop independent battalions into independent regiments, guerrilla brigade into independent battalions, and ordinary guerrillas into guerrilla brigade."
Seeing the boss's expression of approval, the chief of staff continued his analysis.
"There is another benefit to further expanding the results."
"The harder they beat the Japs, the greater the Japs' casualties will be, and when the time comes they won't have the troops to retaliate."
"By the time they regain their strength, or reinforcements are brought in from other places, our troops will have already taken root outside the mountains. It will definitely be harder to drive them back to the mountains than to climb to the sky."
The boss became more and more excited as he listened and replied without hesitation: "This result must be expanded."
"Chief of Staff, you just missed something."
"Yixian and Laishui are both under the nose of the Japanese North China Front Army Headquarters, and they are also the only way for the Japanese to go south from Peiping."
"How can I allow others to sleep soundly in this bed? If I were the Japanese commander and knew that after the independent regiment captured Laishui, I would definitely send heavy troops from other places to kill them, take back the county seat, and stabilize these places again."
"There are only so many Japs in North China. If they want to counterattack and retake Yixian and Laishui, the Japanese army can only demolish the east wall to make up for the west wall."
The chief of staff reacted immediately and shouted excitedly: "Boss, I understand what you mean. The Japanese army can only mobilize troops from other base areas."
"With fewer Japs around these base areas, they can take the opportunity to launch a counterattack, break the Japanese blockade on us, and eventually form a chain reaction to break the stalemate between the enemy and ourselves in North China."
"This is definitely a good thing that will affect the whole body. Give the order!"
The boss looked at the map, his expression gradually returned to seriousness, and then he said.
"Chief of Staff, please record: the frontline combat troops continue to strengthen their offensive, mainly killing and injuring Japanese and puppet troops in large numbers to expand the results of the war."
"Especially the Independent Regiment. Didn't they take over Laishui County? They can use the county seat to make a fuss and provide a base for the Japanese to encircle and mobilize reinforcements."
"There is also a garrison regiment. While speeding up the transportation of food, we will continue to replenish weapons and ammunition for the troops participating in the battle on the front line."
"After the transportation mission is completed, the garrison regiment will not return to the base area temporarily, but will turn around to reinforce the frontline participating troops and expand the results of the battle until the Japanese army deploys troops from other base areas to reinforce the battlefield."
Wang Hong, the political commissar of the former enemy headquarters of the Yixian Independent Regiment, was very happy.
After two nights of rush transportation, half of the grain and materials seized by the troops in Yixian County have been safely returned to the base area.
The first transportation team to leave loaded the truck two hours ago and started the second transportation.
According to this progress, the transportation team will be able to move Yixian County without leaving a single nail at the latest by the evening of the day after tomorrow.
Just when Wang Hong was about to report the good news to Li Hao, the communications platoon leader suddenly broke in with a serious look on his face.
"Regiment leader, political commissar, headquarters encrypted telegram."
In the garrison regiment, only the regimental commander, political commissar, chief of staff, and deputy regimental commander are qualified to translate and review secret messages, and the code book is always with the political commissar.
Wang Hong received the telegram and began to translate it.
Not long after, his face became serious, he put away the code book and handed the translated message to Li Hao and said.
"Captain, there seems to be something big going on at the headquarters."
"Let the main force stay temporarily after we have finished transporting the supplies, and cooperate with the neighboring friendly forces to attack the Japanese and puppet troops."
The secret message contains a lot of content, and the political commissar only briefly introduced it.
But Li Hao's brows still furrowed. He took the telegram and read it twice before putting it down: "I agree with your judgment. The headquarters must be making big moves."
Then he stared at Wang Hong and asked: "Political Commissar, if I give you two more nights, can you transport all the food and materials in Yixian County back to the base area?"
"It can be done!" Wang Hong replied confidently.
Li Hao took a long breath and said, "That's great."
"When the food and transportation teams safely return to the base area, the main force will have no worries and can fight the Japanese as they please."
"But we must be well prepared before that happens."
"If I remember correctly, the last transportation team to leave from Yixian County is still parked near the blockade. It will not be able to set off until dark tonight and rush back to Yixian County for the second transportation."
"There is indeed a transport team there, with a total of five hundred trucks." Wang Hong blurted out.
Li Hao nodded and continued: "It would be a shame to return to Yixian with an empty car."
"Immediately send a telegram to Deputy Commander Luo, and organize people to send 30 thunder cannons and 600 special explosive bags for the thunder cannons to the transportation team, so that they can bring them with them when they return to Yixian County."
"Since we want to fight the Japanese, we must have heavy weapons."
"Our time is limited, and the heavy artillery will definitely not be able to catch up, so we will use the flying thunder cannon to top it."
"In addition, continue to organize mule and horse teams to transport weapons and ammunition to nearby friendly troops. Send as much as you can. Don't be reluctant."
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