The soldiers and civilians in the base area each perform their duties, and after all developments are on track, the base area is in a prosperous situation!
It is certain that as long as this great form is not destroyed, the three counties of Laiyuan will develop into an iron-clad base area in a few months!
It can't be broken, it can't be defeated, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians are twisted into a rope, just like the Lingqiu base area!
However, the old rivals of the defense team obviously don’t want to see this scene happen!
At this moment, the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan has shown a completely opposite picture!
The atmosphere was solemn, although everyone was performing their duties and busy with their own affairs!
But everyone is cautious, deeply afraid of doing something wrong and incurring the dissatisfaction and anger of the military commander!
It has become a foregone conclusion that the garrison will capture Guangling, Laiyuan, and Hunyuan counties, and no one can change it!
When the news reached here, the army commander had already lost his temper!
Many things in the headquarters were smashed to pieces in that rage!
However, the garrison is too capable!
Just a few days later, a lot of bad news came one after another!
The chief of staff stood in front of the army commander, holding intelligence in his hand, facing the army commander's anger that might burst out at any time, and reported bravely!
"Sir, in order to develop the three counties of Laiyuan, Guangling and Hunyuan into their base areas as soon as possible and win over the people's support, the garrison has specially formulated development steps after the military battle. There are five things in total!"
"In the words of the garrison itself, as long as the five things are done well, the three counties will become an iron-clad base like Lingqiu!"
"What five things?" the military commander asked with a stern face, without saying any nonsense!
"The first thing is to form an anti-Japanese government within the three counties to form a whole!"
"According to intelligence: they have set up an anti-Japanese government in the three counties, completely replacing the maintenance committee established by the imperial army, and unified management of the three counties!"
"The second thing is to divide the fields!"
"During the imperial army's control, most of the land in the three counties was in the hands of landlords!"
"And most of these landowners have joined the Maintenance Association, working for the imperial army and helping the imperial army control the place!"
"Now that the Imperial Army has been defeated, the landowners who were branded as traitors by the Eighth Route Army are also finished. The land in their hands has become ownerless land!"
"The Eighth Route Army distributed all of them to the people for free and promised to reduce food taxes to win the hearts and minds of the people!"
"The third thing is to recruit troops and expand the main force!"
"After the land was divided, the people's favor towards the Eighth Route Army greatly increased!"
"Then they put forward the slogan of joining the Eighth Route Army and protecting the land, and encouraged joining the army!"
"So the enthusiasm of the people in the three counties to join the Eighth Route Army is very good. It can even be described as enthusiastic!"
"We recruited seven to eight thousand new soldiers from three counties in just a few days!"
"In addition to expanding the main force, they also formed a large number of local troops to assist the main force in defending the local area!"
"The fourth thing: follow the example of other Eighth Route Army base areas, set up guerrillas in each village, send experienced soldiers from the main force to serve as captains, and train them. This will not only allow each village to have a certain ability to protect itself, but also achieve the goal of hiding soldiers.
The role of the people!"
"The fifth thing: organize the people to reclaim wasteland in large quantities, increase the area of land cultivated, and increase food production!"
"Now the defense team has almost done the first four things and is doing the fifth thing!"
"In addition, judging from the current development pattern of the three counties, the people in the three counties are gradually siding with the Eighth Route Army and becoming loyal supporters of the Eighth Route Army!"
"Once they unite as one and form a rope, we will definitely have many difficulties when we besiege the defense regiment in the future!"
The army commander was frightened when he heard that the garrison had recruited seven to eight thousand new soldiers in the three counties.
I frowned and didn't respond for a long time!
As for what the chief of staff reported next, he didn't hear much of it clearly!
As soon as the chief of staff stopped, he asked anxiously: "In other words, the total strength of the garrison has reached 10,000 people!"
"More than 10,000 people!" the chief of staff replied truthfully!
"The main force is at least 6,000 people, and the rest are local troops!"
"In addition, they have formed guerrilla groups in each village. The total number of these guerrilla groups must exceed 5,000!"
"Now, both the main force, local forces, and even guerrillas are intensifying their training!"
"Especially the main force and local troops, there are a lot of gunshots coming from the station every day. They must be conducting live-fire drills!"
"Insufficient ammunition has always been a flaw of the Eighth Route Army. The garrison's willingness to take out bullets for the troops to conduct live-fire training illustrates two problems!"
"Either they have enough ammunition and no longer care about the bullets used for training!"
"Either they are very anxious, have some new plans, and are eager to get the troops into combat effectiveness. They have no choice but to dig out some of the few bullets for live ammunition training!"
"Two possibilities, I prefer the latter!"
The commander's face became more solemn and he cursed: "Bage Yalu, do you need to analyze this? They must be eager to let the troops form combat effectiveness!"
"The army has expanded several times at once. If training is not strengthened, those new recruits will be cannon fodder on the battlefield!"
"I judge that they are eager to train their troops and form combat effectiveness. They definitely want to send troops to capture Guangling, Hunyuan, and Laiyuan counties as soon as possible, kill our garrison there, and completely connect their so-called base areas!"
"Of course, your first guess is not impossible!"
"Our opponent is so cunning and hard to figure out!"
"Other Eighth Route Army troops don't even have one rifle per man. They have begun to unify the caliber of their equipment and only use Japanese equipment captured from the Imperial Army! In addition to heavy weapons, the proportion of certain light weapons even exceeds that of the Imperial Army!"
"And the secret weapon they developed is as powerful as the heavy artillery equipped by the imperial army!"
"More importantly, the production of this kind of weapon is extremely simple. If the Eighth Route Army equips its troops on a large scale, the Imperial Army will definitely be unable to defend it, and it will suffer heavy casualties!"
"Having the ability to research and manufacture new weapons, and considering that the garrison rarely runs out of ammunition in battles! I have reason to suspect that the garrison is continuously obtaining ammunition through methods unknown to us!"
"It may be that they produce and reassemble it themselves, or they may purchase it directly!"
"boom……"
Having said this, the military commander smashed his clenched fist directly on the table in front of him, his eyes turned red, as if he could spit out fire!
Then he looked at the Chief of Staff, gritted his teeth and cursed: "Chief of Staff, we must find a way to stop them!"
"The garrison did five things to win over the people and establish a base!"
"Once their expanded recruits become combat effective, hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the three counties will be united by them to oppose the imperial army. We will definitely pay a heavy price when we eliminate them in the future!"
"As I said just now, after the garrison regains its combat effectiveness, our imperial troops stationed in Hunyuan, Guangling, and Laiyuan counties will definitely bear the brunt and be the first targets of their attack."
"If the garrison can capture the heavily defended Lingqiu, it can definitely capture them too!"
"The three counties are like three nails hammered into the hinterland of the garrison, threatening the rear of the garrison at all times."
"It can not only serve as a bridgehead for us to attack the garrison in the future, but also help us hold back a large number of the main force of the garrison on the battlefield, reducing the pressure on our frontal attack!"
"So before the imperial army launches a full-scale attack on the garrison, the three county towns must be defended!"
"They are all isolated cities, surrounded by heavy garrison troops. If they defend to the death, sooner or later the troops will be exhausted, and they will eventually be lost!"
"The best way is not to give the garrison the chance to attack three counties!"
The chief of staff frowned and replied thoughtfully: "As long as the newly expanded recruits of the garrison have not formed combat effectiveness, they will not take the initiative to attack and let the recruits serve as cannon fodder!"
"Sir, you mean to find a way to prevent the garrison from training, so that their newly expanded seven or eight thousand men will not be able to fight!"
"This is a good method, it can solve all problems once and for all!"
"It can not only ensure the safety of the three counties of Laiyuan, but also reduce the combat pressure on our offensive garrison in the future!"
"Even if the people in the three counties all support the Eighth Route Army in the future and stand with them! Without troops, the imperial army can still easily defeat them!"
The commander sneered and replied: "This is the combat idea. Find a way to completely destroy the things the garrison is doing and make them unable to achieve their goals!"
"Sir, have you thought of a solution?" the chief of staff asked with expectation!
"An eye for an eye!" the military commander did not hide anything, and replied with murderous intent in his words!
"The garrison wanted to do five things to completely capture the three counties, but I happened to think of a few countermeasures and failed!"
"This time I decided to have a good fight with the leader of the garrison to see who is better!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the communications staff officer appeared and handed over a telegram!
"Sir, there is an urgent call from the front army!"
The army commander responded quickly. Although he didn't know what the front army's telegram was about, he still stood up from his seat and took the telegram respectfully!
The content of the telegram was very long, and it took a full half minute to read it, and then a smile flashed on the commander's face.
Apparently the telegram brought good news!
Under the curious and expectant gaze of the chief of staff, he said with emotion!
"Yoshi, this telegram came at the right time! God bless the Imperial Army, God is helping us this time!"
Then he didn't hide anything and introduced directly: "The front army decided to transfer a major general to Laiyuan, and decided to increase our troops specifically to deal with the garrison!"
"Reinforcements and related ammunition supplies will arrive within two months!"
"That is to say, as long as we delay the garrison for two months and prevent them from fighting, the imperial army will gather heavy troops and launch a new round of all-out attack on them to solve this serious problem at once!"
"How many reinforcements are there, and are there any heavy artillery troops coming?" the chief of staff immediately asked!
This is what he is most concerned about. The imperial army lost too many troops some time ago!
However, the strength of the garrison is constantly increasing. If there is not a sufficient number of reinforcements to ensure the strength advantage of the offensive force, the chief of staff will not have the confidence to attack the garrison!
The army commander replied confidently: "The telegram didn't say it, but I can be sure that the number will definitely be indispensable!"