At the Eighth Route Army Siege Headquarters in Datong, Li Hao and Chief of Staff Zhou had just finished their meal and were about to wait in the war room to wait for the victory of the attacking troops. When the negotiators of the Shanxi-Sui Army came directly over and demanded to negotiate immediately.
Li Hao looked puzzled, thinking that the troops' plan to demonstrate had been leaked, and that the Jinsui Army was preparing to strike preemptively.
It was only after the negotiation started that I realized that I had worried too much.
"Chief of Staff Zhou, Commander Li, we have just received an order from the Commander-in-Chief to finish the negotiations tonight!" the lieutenant general said straight to the point.
"Considering that your Eighth Route Army paid a huge price for capturing Datong, the war zone has decided to double the compensation for you!"
"If your army agrees, we will sign the agreement now."
"The compensation and rewards promised to your army will be taken to Datong City by the defense troops and handed over to your army!"
After the compensation was doubled, it was still far away from what he had asked for. Of course, Li Hao would not agree.
He objected without hesitation: "No, the compensation for the war zone is too little."
"If we agree, the Eighth Route Army will send out heavy troops to attack Datong. This battle will cost my wife and lose our troops, and we will become the sinners of the entire Eighth Route Army."
"Considering that the war zone is indeed very difficult, I can reduce the conditions proposed in the last negotiation by 20%. This is the greatest sincerity we can give. Anything less will be impossible to negotiate."
The other party was obviously prepared and was not surprised at all after hearing what Li Hao said.
He took out a piece of paper and retorted: "Chief of Staff Zhou, Commander Li, this is a piece of intelligence sent to me by the war zone during the day."
"It said that after your army captured Datong, they seized all shops, warehouses, and coal mines controlled by the Japanese puppet troops and Japanese chaebols in Datong City."
"Judgment from the war zone: Your army has seized a large amount of wealth and materials from these people. If all of them were converted into oceans, it would definitely be no less than one million."
"In addition, during our negotiations, your army's military operations have not stopped."
"Several coal mines are captured by your army every day."
"These coal mines not only contain wealth, equipment, food, supplies, but also a large number of weapons and ammunition."
"After your army captured these coal mines, they loaded almost everything they could take away from the coal mines into trucks and transported them back to the base area. They even took away many absentees."
"One coal mine may not capture much, but if you add ten coal mines or even a hundred coal mines, you can capture a lot, which will definitely make up for some of your army's losses in the siege."
"Coupled with the compensation provided by the war zone, your army will definitely not suffer losses in attacking Datong."
Li Hao understood that this was the reason why the other party was eager to negotiate with him, and it was not that the Eighth Route Army's plan to prepare for a demonstration was exposed in advance.
Since the plan has not been exposed, the remaining problems can be easily solved.
Although the theater received intelligence that the Eighth Route Army had sealed up the shops and warehouses of the Japanese and puppet troops in Datong City, it also knew that various units of the Eighth Route Army were attacking large and small coal mines in Datong.
But Datong is still controlled by the Eighth Route Army. Whether so much wealth has been seized depends entirely on one's own words.
As for whether the other party believes it or not, that is none of your business.
He breathed a sigh of relief and replied: "General Zhou, if we really captured so many things, then you underestimate the Japanese."
"We did seize a large amount of materials from the Japanese and puppet troops in Datong City. I don't deny this."
"But these supplies are all food that the enemy did not have time to take away and destroy. They add up to nearly one million kilograms."
"The amount of gold and silver seized was very small."
"The Japanese had long since realized that they could no longer defend Datong, and hid the gold and silver treasures and Dayang in advance. We searched the entire Datong and found less than 100,000 yuan and gold and silver worth 50,000 yuan. You, General Zhou,
Is there a big difference in the information received?"
"We have captured 24 large and small coal mines outside the city, and we have indeed seized a lot of things, but they are certainly not as many as General Zhou said in your intelligence."
"Those coal mines are defended by the army and mine protection teams. Needless to say, the army has the habit of destroying weapons before death. Everyone knows it."
"The mine protection team is also difficult to deal with. Judging from the coal mines that were captured, more than half of the members of the mine protection team are veterans who have retired from the Japanese army."
"The habit of destroying weapons before death is deeply ingrained in their bones, so it is difficult for us to seize weapons from them."
"Almost all of the few weapons were seized from puppet troops and Japanese expatriates."
"There are a total of twenty-four large and small coal mines, and no more than 500 rifles and no more than ten light machine guns have been seized. How can we make up for our losses in the siege?"
The lieutenant general was confused by Li Hao's series of rhetorical questions.
Upon receiving this information, the Lieutenant General felt confident about the upcoming negotiations. After a little preparation, he confidently went to the Eighth Route Army headquarters and demanded that the negotiations be restarted.
I ignored one thing: the intelligence I received was only a judgment from the war zone, and there was no real evidence.
Moreover, the things mentioned in the intelligence all happened in Datong, which is still their territory now, and they have the final say no matter what.
Just like yesterday's negotiation, I knew that the list of casualties and losses given to me by the Eighth Route Army was full of water, but I couldn't refute it. No matter how bitter I felt, no matter how unconvinced I was, I could only swallow it in my stomach. Who asked me to come without evidence?
Woolen cloth?
After putting down the intelligence he had high hopes for, the lieutenant general decided to get straight to the point with Li Hao.
When the theater sent this information to itself, it also forwarded the commander-in-chief's order.
He was anxious and wanted to take control of Datong as soon as possible, earn wealth for himself through the coal mines buried under Datong, and make up for the increasingly weak economic foundation of the Jinsui Army.
The order was very clear: If we can't talk tonight.
Early tomorrow morning, the three main divisions gathered on the border will enter Datong, exert military pressure on the Eighth Route Army in Datong, and cooperate with them in negotiations.
The commander-in-chief did not want to use military means to resolve the ownership of Datong, let alone have a military conflict with the Eighth Route Army and provoke a war.
The Lieutenant General knows this better than anyone.
Once the war zone issues an order to exert military pressure, no one can guarantee whether the Eighth Route Army will respond tit-for-tat, eventually leading to a conflict between the two armies.
Therefore, the pressure on the Lieutenant General's shoulders is very high, and he must do everything possible to reach this negotiation.
"Chief of Staff Zhou, the war zone has issued a retreat order to your army. Regardless of whether the compensation meets your army's requirements, you must retreat. This is a military order and there is no room for negotiation. Otherwise, you will be disobeying the military order and may at least be subject to a military court.
Otherwise, they will be treated as rebels and eliminated."
"Early tomorrow morning, the three main divisions gathered near Datong will enter Datong and take over the defense here from your army."
"I advise Chief of Staff Zhou to agree to the proposal I just made to avoid unnecessary friction between the two armies."
"I believe your army still does not have the guts to attack us head-on, provoke war, undermine the united front, and become a national sinner."
"After signing the agreement, you can still get some compensation when you retreat."
"If you don't sign the agreement, you won't get anything when the three main divisions arrive outside Datong City. Why bother?"
"threaten!"
Two words popped up in the minds of Chief of Staff Zhou and Li Hao at the same time.
They looked at each other and saw anger in each other's eyes.
After failing to gain any advantage at the negotiation table, they began to resort to crooked ways and planned to use military pressure to force the Eighth Route Army to submit.
But their plan was obviously going to fail.
Li Hao had long expected that they would exert military pressure and made preparations in advance.
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