Hong Linfeng looked at Li Hao and had no worries. He bluntly asked: "Captain, I also want to increase troops! But the key problem is that we have no troops available!"
"The secret service battalion and the independent battalion all suffered heavy casualties. Even if we supplemented them with the more than 400 people just sent by the political commissar, the two battalions would only have less than 400 people! Excluding the artillery and heavy machine gunners, the real combat troops were also
Just a little more than one company!”
"With this little force, how can we reinforce it?"
"Don't let the Japanese fail to catch the enemy by then, and the reinforcements will be trapped in the tiger's mouth instead!"
Li Hao obviously had an idea and answered confidently: "The purpose of our additional troops is to attack the Japs, severely inflict heavy damage on the Japanese and puppet troops who have withdrawn to the county, so that they dare not leave the city again, establish a base for the main force, and clear the territory."
Hidden traitor agents create conditions!"
"Since we are only striking hard at the little Japs, as long as we use our tactics properly, we can do it without too many troops!"
Although the garrison had defeated the greater number with less on the battlefield more than once, he was not very optimistic about the situation in Guangling and Laiyuan!
The advantage in strength and terrain lies with the little devil!
Even the common people helped the little devils, conveyed information to them, and deliberately avoided the Eighth Route Army!
Under this situation, Hong Linfeng had no chance of defeating the Japs with equal strength, let alone defeating many with less!
Hong Linfeng was not optimistic about this reinforcement at all, and he had already rejected it in his heart, so he directly expressed his thoughts!
"Captain, I think this is too difficult!"
"For the sake of stability, I suggest the troops give up some places!"
"Our troops are limited. If we swallow an area three times as large as the base area, we will definitely choke!"
"Judging from feedback from the battlefield, we were indeed choked!"
"So I think we should also take the initiative to shrink the defense line: each county will occupy a small area first, and then gradually expand outward after completely controlling it!"
"You can't become fat by eating one bite. We should eat one bite at a time, digest as much as you eat, and don't be greedy for more!"
"Save people and lose land, and you will save both people and land. Save land and lose people, and you will lose both people and land. This has always been our Eighth Route Army's combat policy!"
"If the troops are wiped out for the sake of the territory of these three counties, and there are not enough new recruits to replenish the troops and quickly restore the combat effectiveness! In the future, the little devils will only need to dispatch an infantry brigade to drive us back like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. What's wrong?
They will also rush into our base area and kill us all, losing my wife and losing our troops!"
Under normal circumstances, the chief of staff's proposal is definitely the best way to break the situation at hand, it is safe and risk-free!
But it takes too long!
When the troops completely control the three counties and establish base areas, I don’t know how long it will take until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse!
The Japanese obviously won't give the garrison such a long time!
The reason why the base area needs to be expanded is that, on the one hand, Lingqiu can no longer support so many troops in the garrison, and there is not enough reserve troops to supplement the troops!
There is another very important reason: the garrison needs greater strategic depth to meet the next round of raids by the Japanese and puppet troops!
Li Hao could guess with his eyes closed that the Japanese and puppet troops' next raid on the garrison would be unprecedented. A single sweep would completely wipe out the garrison, leaving no chance for the garrison to continue to grow and develop!
If the garrison did not capture enough strategic depth before the Japanese raids, as long as the Japanese and puppet troops dispatched enough troops, they would be able to surround themselves in Lingqiu without giving themselves any room for maneuver, and then eliminate them bit by bit!
For the future of the garrison, for the garrison to be victorious in this unprecedented sweep, these three counties of Laiyuan, Guangling, and Hunyuan must be captured, and they must be captured as soon as possible, and they must be built into an ironclad.
base area!
Hong Linfeng looked at Li Hao expectantly, hoping that he would agree to his more pertinent suggestions!
Disappointedly, Li Hao kept frowning and staring at the map, but did not speak!
After five minutes, make a decision as soon as you open your mouth, without giving yourself a chance to refute!
"It's better to fight as I said, increase the number of troops in Guangling and Laiyuan, and solve the problem in one battle!"
Hong Linfeng's eyes immediately widened, thinking that he had heard wrongly!
It took a long time to react, and he asked with disbelief: "Captain, do you mean to reinforce Guangling and Laiyuan at the same time?"
"How is this possible? With our small amount of troops, it is not enough to reinforce one place at a time. How is it possible to reinforce two places at the same time!"
Li Hao replied with confidence: "Chief of Staff, don't worry, I, Li Hao, will never let the soldiers go to Guangling and Laiyuan to die!"
"We have already bitten these three counties, and then spit them out. That is not my style, Li Hao!"
"You made a good analysis just now. Swallowing the territory of three counties in one go is a bit too big for us! But as long as we control it well, we are definitely capable of swallowing them up!"
"My plan is to take it in two steps: the first step is to increase the number of troops. Specifically how to increase the number of troops, and how to fight after the troops arrive in Guangling and Laiyuan, we still need the cooperation of the second and third battalions!"
"The second step is to adjust the food!"
"Didn't we seize nearly two million kilograms of grain in the city? We took out half of it, traveled day and night, and transported it to the junction of Lingqiu, Guangling, and Laiyuan counties!"
"After the main force's battle against the Japanese army is over, these one million kilograms of grain will be sent to the two counties immediately, and it will be delivered in a high-profile way, so that all the people in the two counties will know that our Eighth Route Army has grain!"
The intelligence staff of the Japanese garrison headquarters in Laiyuan City has been in a very good mood these days!
The traitor agents lurking outside the city are all in contact with the intelligence network they are responsible for, and any actions are organized and issued through them!
A few days ago, the Imperial Army successfully inflicted heavy losses on two main companies of the garrison and wiped out nearly 400 Eighth Route Army troops. The Intelligence Department took the greatest credit!
As the person in charge, he has been commended by the commander many times, and he promised in public that as long as the Intelligence Department can make another contribution, his military rank will be raised one level, and then he will be directly decentralized to the troops to take real power, and become a veritable infantry brigade captain.
!
As expected, after this information is delivered to the commander today, I will definitely be one step closer to becoming a major captain!
"Sir, our intelligence agents lurking outside the city have sent us good news!"
The commander is also very happy!
The Eighth Route Army was as cunning as a fox in combat. It would fight when it won and run away if it couldn't. It was difficult to bite their main force, let alone kill them!
But a few days ago, with the cooperation of the intelligence department, the troops killed nearly 480 Route Army troops with very few casualties, and captured four heavy machine guns!
In all the previous battles against the Eighth Route Army, such a result has almost never been encountered!
What's more important is that what he destroyed was the Empire's most dangerous garrison, not the ordinary Eighth Route Army!
For this matter, the military department even sent a commendation telegram to encourage myself to keep up the good work!
I am just a colonel, but I can bypass the brigade headquarters and division headquarters and directly enter the army commander's field of vision, and be favored by the army commander. It is definitely a surprise!
Seeing the intelligence staff rushing towards him with a smile on his face and opening his mouth with good news, the commander seemed to have seen a greater military exploit and waved to him, and his eyes began to light up at that moment!
He immediately asked: "What's the good news? Is the Eighth Route Army outside the city moving again?"
"Yes, sir!"
"In the past few days, I have used high-ranking officials, generous salaries and weapons to promise, mobilized more than two hundred Chinese people who worked for the imperial army, and attacked the Eighth Route Army that had been assembled outside the city day and night!"
"Although we don't know the specific results of their sneak attack, judging from the abnormal actions of the Eighth Route Army this morning, the casualties are definitely not small!"
"Abnormal behavior, what actions did they take today?" The commander's premonition of the battle became stronger in his mind, and he continued to ask!
"They left their base at dawn, and the entire army was dispatched, heading directly towards Gongqiao Village!"
"Our intelligence department has set up a liaison station in Gongqiao Village, which is responsible for contacting and commanding the surrounding Chinese who are working for the imperial army! The Eighth Route Army must have received some intelligence before sending troops. They want to go there to kill our liaison station and kill those sneak attacks.
Their Chinese!”
"It is more than 20 kilometers from their current station to Gongqiao Village, and a normal march will take at least five hours!"
"The county seat is only 20 kilometers away from Gongqiao Village, four hours away!"
"Bizhi believes that we can send troops to lurk nearby in advance. When the Eighth Route Army attacks Gongqiao Village, we can attack them from behind, surround them outside the village, and then attack them from both inside and outside to annihilate them all!"
The commander immediately looked at the sand table and found Gongqiao Village!
After thinking for two minutes, he suddenly asked: "What should we do about the Eighth Route Army's scouts lurking outside the city?"
"We want to form an encirclement outside Gongqiao Village and kill these Eighth Route Army troops in a battle. We will need to dispatch at least three infantry squadrons, an artillery squadron, a heavy machine gun squadron, and a few heavy mortars!"
"With so many troops, even if they climb over the city wall, they can't hide from the Eighth Route Army scouts!"
"If their main force is allowed to receive the news of our dispatch of troops in advance, the Eighth Route Army, which has suffered two heavy losses at our hands, will definitely retreat, and we will be in vain!"
The intelligence staff replied confidently: "Sir, don't worry!"
"It doesn't matter if the attacking troops are exposed?"
"I can mobilize all Chinese people near the county to block all roads and paths around the county!"
"The Eighth Route Army uses manpower to spread news. As long as we stop these scouts, the news of the troop dispatch will not be leaked!"
"And it takes time for them to spread the news. Even if someone escapes our blockade and interception, by the time they get the news to the Eighth Route Army, the battle has already begun!"
"A late message will not have any impact on the war situation!"
"Also, even if the Eighth Route Army retreats temporarily, we will not suffer any losses!"
"But if this operation succeeds, we will wipe out the Eighth Route Army in Laiyuan!"
There is no loss if you lose, and it is a great achievement if you win!
Hearing these words, the commander was completely moved and made a decisive decision!
"Yo Xi, if we miss this opportunity, we will fight. The troops will be dispatched in half an hour!"
"The intelligence department took immediate action to organize the Chinese people outside the city who were working for the imperial army to completely blockade Laiyuan City and prevent the Eighth Route Army scouts from spreading information to the outside world!"
