After listening to the introduction, the commander asked while looking at the sand table: "When will all the remaining local troops of the garrison be in place?"
"Intelligence shows that there are nearly a thousand people on the road, and they will all be in place at noon tomorrow." The chief of staff thought for a moment and replied.
"During the day today, we killed nearly 2,000 people. The intelligence was sent back by the agents lurking in the stretcher team. The accuracy rate is over 90%."
"Including the local troops who have arrived at the battlefield during the day and those who will be in place soon, there are more than 3,000 local troops and more than 1,000 new recruits on the Laiyuan battlefield. This should be considered all the troops of the garrison regiment staying in the base area."
"Kill them. There will at most be a few remaining soldiers in the garrison base, which will not affect the overall situation."
"So we can definitely win this battle."
The chief of staff became more and more happy as he talked, and his face was already beaming with joy, as if victory had waved to him again.
The commander's face was surprisingly calm, and he didn't seem to agree with the chief of staff's analysis.
He was defeated by the garrison too many times.
Before every attack, I was like now, full of confidence and high morale, but in the end, they all ended in disastrous defeat.
So when he faced the garrison again, no matter how reasonable the chief of staff's analysis was or how high his chances of winning were, he remained calm.
Looking at the chief of staff's serious face, he reminded: "Don't be happy too early."
"The battlefield is changing rapidly, and no one can guarantee that he will be the winner until the last moment."
"No matter whether we can finally capture the base of the garrison, or whether we can successfully block the main force of the garrison in Datong, the battle before us must be fought well."
The chief of staff slowly calmed down, looked at the sand panel and asked: "Commander, you mean the total annihilation of all local troops and guerrillas in the garrison?"
"Not bad!" the military commander affirmed.
"Since all these local troops will not be in place until noon tomorrow, the frontline troops will continue to maintain today's offensive during the day before noon tomorrow. They cannot attack too hard and scare away the Eighth Route Army that has not yet arrived on the battlefield."
"After confirming that all local troops are in place, the offensive troops immediately launched a strong attack, breaking through the blocking positions of the garrison in the shortest possible time, quickly interspersing, and blocking the retreat of these local troops."
"The subsequent three thousand attacking troops will outflank the opponent on both sides, first surrounding the opponent on the battlefield, and then gathering together to annihilate them."
"Chief of Staff, you will personally keep an eye on this matter tonight. You must explain it to the frontline commander. There won't be any mistakes in tomorrow's battle."
"Don't think that if there are few troops in these places, they will just run away."
"A single spark can start a prairie fire. This is a saying often said by the Eighth Route Army. We must keep it in mind, otherwise we will suffer big losses."
The chief of staff quickly replied: "Don't worry, commander, I will definitely not disappoint you in this humble position."
The commander nodded, and then turned his attention to the staff officer next to him.
"Jun Ye, please send a telegram to the Datong garrison immediately: The military headquarters' encirclement and annihilation campaign against all the troops in the garrison base area will begin tomorrow afternoon and will end before dark."
"In order to ensure the smooth progress of the battle plan, I implore them to continue their efforts, shed the last drop of blood for the empire, and hold back the main force of the garrison at all costs."
"I'm here to express my gratitude to them."
"After the battle, I promise them in the name of the army commander that I will give credit to every soldier in Datong."
At the top of the east gate of Datong, Chief of Staff Zhou stood here for half an hour, staring at the battlefield with a telescope, his expression constantly changing, sometimes happy, sometimes nervous, and sometimes solemn.
If he remembered correctly, he had not had a good rest for almost two days and one night since he arrived in Datong during the day yesterday.
His face was full of exhaustion, and dark circles appeared under his eyes, but he didn't feel sleepy at all.
Hearing the sound of gunfire, the Japanese and puppet troops had been compressed by the attacking troops to an area of 500 meters in the center of the city. According to this offensive momentum, the troops would definitely be able to kill the remaining Japanese and puppet troops before dawn and end the battle successfully.
When I thought that Datong City was about to be taken down by me, the sleepiness that kept coming over my head disappeared in an instant.
Then the whole person became extremely excited and looked at the battlefield again, hoping that this moment would come soon.
The telegraph operator suddenly came over: "Chief, Commander Li sent a telegram. The content is a bit strange. You'd better read it first."
"Li Hao!" Chief of Staff Zhou received the telegram with an expectant look on his face.
The fact that he was able to command the troops to capture Datong was all Li Hao's fault. He picked up what was already available and took advantage of him.
From the contact point of view, although Li Hao is very young, his commanding ability is not bad at all.
So Captain Zhou admired him from the bottom of his heart.
As expected, he should be on his way back to the reinforcement base now. If he sends a telegram at this time, something big must have happened.
Chief of Staff Zhou read the telegram quickly and then frowned.
His subconscious reaction was the same as that of the telegraph operator: he thought the contents of the telegram were strange.
The battle in Datong was going so smoothly, and we were about to win. If we slowed down the offensive at this time, wouldn't that give the enemy a chance to breathe?
When the enemy regains their morale and physical strength, the troops will definitely have to pay a higher price if they want to destroy them.
Chief of Staff Zhou wanted to reject this proposal and simply pretended that he had not received the telegram and continued to let the troops launch the attack.
But before the words came to his lips, before he could say them out, another thing suddenly came to his mind.
Li Hao is a man who never suffers losses in a war. It is impossible that he could not see the harm that slowing down the attack might bring to the attacking troops.
But he still sent the telegram.
There is only one reason. There is something hidden behind this proposal that I don't know.
His mind was running rapidly, analyzing the current situation of the garrison. As he thought about it, the strange expression on Chief of Staff Zhou's face slowly disappeared. He looked at the sand table with a look of enlightenment and shouted: "I understand."
"Captain Li asked us to slow down the attack in order to paralyze the Japanese army."
"Let them mistakenly believe that the main force of the garrison has been in Datong and has not left. Even if a temporary decision is made to return reinforcements at that time, it will take a long time and will not threaten the Japanese and puppet troops in Laiyuan."
"In this way, the Japanese and puppet troops attacking the base area of the garrison will have no scruples and lower their vigilance, and the main force of the garrison will have the opportunity to surround and annihilate them."
"Call back Commander Li immediately and I will cooperate with them: if nothing else happens, the battle for Datong will continue until tomorrow night."
"Commander Wang, immediately withdraw half of the troops from the front line to rest, leaving half of the troops to continue attacking the remaining Japanese and puppet troops, but we must control the pace of the attack and the casualties of the troops."
"The soldiers have been fighting for almost a day and a night. They must be more exhausted than me. They need to rest and replenish their strength, otherwise they will easily collapse."
"After five hours, go up to the rested troops and replace the other half of the troops with rest."
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