The adjutant also saw something and made a bold guess: "Sir, does the Eighth Route Army want to repeat its old trick and cause us a large number of wounded through sneak attacks, thereby affecting our marching speed and preventing us from returning to the no-man's land in time?"
After finishing speaking, he shook his head, then frowned and analyzed: "Probably not, the cost of fighting like this for the Eighth Route Army is too high."
"They only brought us 20 seriously injured people, but we lost a mortar and a heavy machine gun."
"These heavy weapons are treasures of the Eighth Route Army. They are very rare in number and need to be approved at all levels before they can be used on the battlefield. How could they be willing to hold us back at the expense of destroying these heavy weapons? It is incredible."
The thoughts that came to the captain's mind were exactly the same as those of the adjutant, and he hesitated after listening to the adjutant's analysis.
The Eighth Route Army was indeed not so heroic as to hold itself back at the expense of having its heavy weapons destroyed.
But how to explain the two sneak attacks that happened in front of me? Was it really an accident? I was overthinking...
Time is running out, and the captain does not intend to waste too much brains and time on this matter.
If you can't figure it out, don't think about it. As long as you can successfully reach the no-man's land and complete the mission, that's all.
Decisive order: "The troops continue to advance. Even if the Eighth Route Army does what we think and slows down the march of the troops at the cost of destroying heavy weapons, we are not afraid."
"They are notoriously poor. Even if they take out all the heavy weapons they have, they won't be able to cause us too many casualties."
The Japanese army once again underestimated the strength of the Eighth Route Army.
In the next half hour, two more heavy machine guns and two mortars appeared next to the team.
Although these heavy weapons were eventually destroyed by aircraft, the Japanese and puppet troops also paid a huge price for this.
In addition to the casualties caused by landmines and rifle machine guns to the returning troops, there were more than a hundred stretchers in the team.
Although the captain sent four soldiers to each wounded person, taking turns to carry the stretcher, the marching speed still slowed down involuntarily. After all, each soldier in the stretcher team carried an extra sixty or seventy kilograms.
And the requirements for roads are much higher than before.
"Sir, I just calculated that the current marching speed of the troops is less than five kilometers per hour, and it is getting slower and slower."
"If this momentum continues, we will still be at least ten kilometers away from no man's land before dark."
"After dark, the Eighth Route Army that has been harassing us will definitely show up, and even run to the front to stop us. It is almost impossible for everyone to fight back to the no-man's land on time."
The captain racked his brains and couldn't think of a way to break the situation.
Finally, I had to give up, and with a long sigh, I ordered: "Send a telegram to the military headquarters, directly saying that we cannot reach the no-man's land on time, and ask them to prepare countermeasures in advance."
"As for the punishment, just do whatever you want!"
At the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan, the commander who was full of expectations was disappointed.
After reading the telegram sent by the returning reinforcements, I suddenly slumped down in my chair.
It took a long time before a sentence came out: "The no man's land is over!"
"Chief of Staff, immediately formulate a retreat plan to minimize our army's losses in the next battle."
The chief of staff also knew that the matter must be violated and immediately replied: "The commander is wise!"
"There are still more than three hours until dark next day, and all the garrison troops in the no-man's land close to the areas occupied by the imperial army will have the opportunity to withdraw."
"I immediately gave them a retreat order, and the entire army evacuated the no-man's land, and cooperated with the troops stationed in the occupied area to establish a new line of defense on the edge of the no-man's land to prevent the garrison from continuing to expand outwards after occupying the no-man's land."
Three days passed, and Datong City slowly returned to calm.
People began to appear on the streets, and many shops began to open...
Inside the Eighth Route Army's siege command center located in the center of the city, a negotiation over the ownership of Datong finally kicked off.
On one side of the long table sat negotiators from the Jinsui Army, led by a lieutenant general.
Chief of Staff Zhou sat directly opposite him, and Li Hao sat next to Chief of Staff Zhou. Everyone looked serious.
The lieutenant general leading the Jinsui Army was obviously determined to win Datong. At the beginning of the negotiation, he took out several orders from the theater, intending to preemptively take the initiative in the entire negotiation.
Looking at Chief of Staff Zhou, he said directly in a commanding tone.
"Your Eighth Route Army belongs to the World War II Zone. From the defense zone point of view, Datong does not belong to any unit of the Eighth Route Army. That's why the war zone gave you an order to evacuate the entire army from Datong. The Shanxi-Sui Army will be stationed in Datong to eliminate the remaining Japanese and puppet troops in Datong.
, to protect the environment and the people.”
"This is an order from the war zone to your army. I hope you will comply with it, otherwise it will be disobedience. If word spreads, it will not be good for the reputation of your Eighth Route Army. It may also affect the cooperation between your army and us, and affect the united front."
."
Li Hao could see the other party's purpose at a glance.
This was intended to slap a label on the Eighth Route Army and threaten it to withdraw from Datong.
The tit-for-tat reply: "Our Eighth Route Army will definitely carry out the orders in the war zone."
"But before our Eighth Route Army retreats, please ask the war zone to release the weapons, ammunition, supplies, and pensions of the soldiers who died in our attack on Datong."
"No matter what, Datong was captured by our Eighth Route Army. If you want to take it away, you can, but you can't let our Eighth Route Army suffer."
"It allows the horse to run without giving it any chance to eat grass."
"Even if we take this matter to Chongqing, the truth is still on our side."
"As for the defense zone, I don't think that's an issue."
"A few days ago this was a Japanese-occupied area. As long as it was the Chinese army, anyone could come and fight."
"No one stipulates that only your Jinsui Army can attack Datong, not our Eighth Route Army!"
"So our Eighth Route Army attacked Datong and wiped out thousands of Japanese puppet troops. Not only was it not wrong, it was also meritorious."
"Only those who have meritorious service must be rewarded to convince the public and win the morale of the army. As the superior of our Eighth Route Army, the war zone should not only make up for the losses of our Eighth Route Army in this siege battle, but also reward all participating troops of our Eighth Route Army."
"I wonder how the war zone plans to reward us?"
"This!" The lieutenant general was confused.
Unexpectedly, Li Hao is a person who doesn't act according to common sense at all.
It was clear that today's negotiation was to decide the ownership of Datong, but after his detour, it turned into the Eighth Route Army asking for compensation and awards from the war zone.
More importantly, what the other party said was reasonable and well-founded, and I couldn't avoid it even if I wanted to.
But the lieutenant general's reaction was also very quick, and he immediately understood the purpose of Li Hao's actions.
He's fighting tooth for tooth.
The war zone used its nominal superior status to issue retreat orders to the Eighth Route Army, and the Eighth Route Army in turn asked its superiors for compensation and rewards in the name of its subordinates.
You know, before this incident, the Eighth Route Army rarely reported to the theater when it won battles, let alone asked for rewards and compensation.
Because they know that they will not give it to the war zone if they ask for it. At most, they will send a few commendation telegrams.
Now to suddenly use this matter as an issue, it really seems to be a bit stuck in the war zone.
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