The chief of staff did not accept the order immediately. Looking at the embarrassment on the commander's face, he reminded: "There are only more than three hours left the next day. No matter how hard you work, you can't gather 5,000 people in such a short time."
"After the failure of the last raid on the defense regiment's arsenal, in addition to misjudgment of the strength of the defense regiment, the military also changed its combat methods against the defense regiment based on this judgment."
"All the mobile units that the Shanxi garrison can mobilize are mopping up other Eighth Route Army troops near the garrison."
"The five thousand troops can only be drawn from these mopping up troops."
"Now give them an order. It will take at least one day and one night for the troops to evacuate the battlefield and gather near the blockade to stand by."
"If you want to attack, you will have to wait until tomorrow morning at the earliest, and you will have to attack in two parts."
"First gather 2,000 people to attack, and then gather the remaining 3,000 people to attack in the morning the day after tomorrow."
The military commander regretted this decision very much, but there was no way to reverse it.
When troops are fighting on the front line, whether they are retreating or regrouping, they must have a complete battle plan. Otherwise, they may be taken advantage of by other Eighth Route Army troops, and they will suffer huge losses.
After thinking for half a minute, I had to agree: "I'll do as you say."
"Two thousand men will be dispatched tomorrow morning, and three thousand men will be dispatched the morning after tomorrow."
"But we can't be idle during the day and night today. We order the intelligence department to mobilize all the intelligence forces within the garrison. I want to know the true situation of the garrison base. The more detailed the better."
After cleaning the battlefield, Li Hao moved the headquarters from Chentouling to a small mountain village less than five kilometers east of Datong City.
Inside the headquarters, not one of the combat staff, guards, and communications troops was idle.
Some people hung maps, some assembled simple sand tables, some organized documents...
Zhou Liang directed the radio communication team to set up a radio station in a corner of the room. As soon as it was turned on, the red light for receiving signals began to flash.
Ten minutes later, Zhou Liang ran over with a happy face: "Regiment Commander, Chief of Staff, Battalion Commander Zhao of Laiyuan Independent Battalion, urgent call."
"The Japanese and puppet troops from at least four strongholds in the south of the city suddenly gathered, abandoned their strongholds and then marched back to Datong City to aid."
"What was the result? Did they stop it?" Hong Linfeng asked anxiously.
Zhou Liang reported while delivering the telegram: "We stopped them all and destroyed more than 600 Japanese and puppet troops. We also surrounded the Wufeng Town stronghold to provide reinforcements and killed nearly 400 Japanese puppet troops."
Hong Linfeng smiled. After reading the telegram carefully, he shouted excitedly: "Commander, this guy Zhao Wen is so powerful. He killed more than a thousand puppet troops in one night."
"The total number of Japanese and puppet troops in the south of the city was only 1,500. He killed two-thirds of them in one night. The speed of annihilating the enemy was not ordinary!"
Surprisingly, there was no smile on Li Hao's face.
After receiving the telegram and reading it carefully, his expression became serious. He looked at Hong Linfeng and analyzed: "Chief of Staff, the Japanese have guessed our target and are deploying troops from outside the city to strengthen the Datong garrison."
"Thankfully we sent out three independent battalions last night, otherwise they would have been able to mobilize at least two thousand people into the city tonight, and our efforts tonight would have been in vain."
"Now that the Japanese army is on alert, our attack speed will be accelerated."
"Send a telegram to Zhao Wen: There are still three hours until dawn. The troops will continue their efforts and will eliminate all the remaining Japanese and puppet troops in the south of the city before noon today."
Hong Linfeng reminded with a worried look: "Isn't this too urgent?"
"Although there are not many Japanese and puppet troops left in the south of the city, they are all hiding in strongholds and gun towers and are very scattered."
"The battle will definitely not end in the remaining three hours at night. If we want to annihilate them all, we must fight during the day. It is too dangerous."
Li Hao shook his head and explained: "Chief of Staff, it's not that I want to embarrass Zhao Wen."
"In addition to him, this order will also be sent to the Guangling Independent Battalion and the Datong Independent Battalion."
"The Japanese troops in Datong City are already on alert, and the Japanese in Taiyuan must also know about it."
"Do you think the Japanese army will miss this good opportunity to raid our base area?"
"Time will not wait for me. I will clear out all the Japanese and puppet troops outside the city before noon today, and start attacking the city at nightfall. I will not give the Japanese any chance to breathe."
"As for the time issue, tell the three battalion commanders that we usually pick up the weak when we fight."
"This time we do it the other way around."
"Before dawn, take down the medium and large strongholds outside the city, and then attack the small and medium strongholds after dawn."
"We also need to send a telegram to the political commissar to ask him to prepare for counter-mopping up."
"The Japanese responded faster than I expected, but there's no need to worry too much."
"As long as the three independent battalions complete their mission, I am confident that they will enter Datong tonight."
"We won't need so many troops after entering the city. We can send many people back to the base to support us."
"As long as he persists until the morning of the day after tomorrow, reinforcements will come back to relieve the siege."
Hong Linfeng's face became more and more serious.
He only saw that the troops were making good progress and wiped out a large number of Japanese and puppet troops, but he didn't think much about it.
Now after listening to Li Hao's explanation, I immediately understood: "Captain, according to your plan, the next step is to compete with the Japanese for time."
"Whoever takes one step faster can defeat the other party."
"I'm going to send them a telegram now, along with your analysis just now, so that they can understand the current situation of the garrison."
Li Hao did not refuse: "It's okay to let them know, after all, they are all veterans who are responsible for their own affairs."
"You go and give the order, and I'll send a telegram to the headquarters asking for reinforcements."
"For such a big military operation as the Datong campaign, the headquarters will definitely be involved."
"If the northwest base area can mobilize two main regiments to reinforce us, I am 100% sure that we will enter Datong City tonight."
"The remnants of the enemy will be eliminated and the task of occupying Datong will be handed over to them. The main force of the regiment will return to support the base area."
At the Northwestern Shanxi Base Area Headquarters, because of a telegram, the room that was quiet just now suddenly became lively.
The commander, political commissar, chief of staff... all gathered here, as if they were convening a military meeting.
"Commander, urgent call from headquarters." the chief of staff reported.
"The garrison is preparing to attack Datong City tomorrow night and requires us to send troops to cooperate!"
"Li Hao again?" The commander immediately became interested.
Seeing the chief of staff nodding, he seemed to have thought of something. He looked at the political commissar next to him and analyzed: "The last time we attacked Datong City, it was this garrison that launched it. We only dispatched one regiment to cooperate, and they captured Datong and gave it to us.
During the seizure, two or three main regiments were formed in terms of equipment alone, as well as a large amount of equipment and food."
"I didn't expect that they would target Datong again."
"Even if we don't have heavy artillery, otherwise I would also like to attack Datong."
After saying that, he looked at the chief of staff and asked: "How is the battle going? Is Li Hao confident that we can capture it?"
"It's almost the same!" the chief of staff thought for a moment and replied.
"The headquarters forwarded the battle situation there. They passed through the encirclement point to bring reinforcements and wiped out more than 4,000 garrison troops outside the city. They eliminated the little Japs outside the city last night and will attack the city tonight."
"There are less than 4,000 Japanese puppet troops in the city. The puppet troops account for more than half, and the garrison has heavy artillery. There must be no problem."
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