"Sir, are you talking about artillery?" the chief of staff suddenly realized!
"Except for the thunder cannons, all the artillery equipped by the garrison were captured. After deducting the losses in daily operations, the number of siege mountain artillery and heavy mortars left must be very limited!"
"In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the offensive troops, they can only concentrate all their limited artillery in the hands of the offensive troops, and then the latent troops will have no artillery!"
"Without artillery, it would be difficult for a group of new soldiers to capture our stronghold, and they would have to pay a huge price!"
"In order to reduce losses, they can only lurk outside the stronghold, waiting for us to leave the stronghold!"
"As long as we don't move, these troops can't do anything to us!"
The chief of staff became more and more happy as he talked, and he almost said the words "stand still"!
The military commander suddenly interrupted: "Don't be too happy too early!"
"Those latent troops do not have the strength to take down those strongholds, but the eight offensive troops that have already entered our hinterland are capable!"
"I don't know where their final attack target is, but as long as they achieve their goal, stop the attack and turn around to fight back, those strongholds will still be taken down!"
The chief of staff became anxious again, frowning and analyzing: "We can wait until dawn, contact the aviation force to come over to reinforce us, and attack the offensive troops of the garrison from the air!"
"Yes, let's do it!"
"There are less than five hours left before dawn. No matter how powerful the attacking troops are, they can only capture a few of the strongholds they are attacking!"
"Although four infantry brigades cannot be drawn from the nearby strongholds and county towns, one brigade can definitely be drawn out!"
"An infantry brigade is equipped with a certain number of Imperial Army troops, divided into eight routes, and attacked by the Eighth Route Army's offensive troops with aircraft reinforcements!"
"Although the Eighth Route Army is equipped with a large number of artillery pieces, those artillery pieces are definitely vulnerable to aircraft!"
"In addition, many of them are new recruits. As long as the battle does not drag on until night, we will definitely win!"
The army commander shook his head and asked with a serious face: "What if these eight attacking troops do not fight with us, but circle with us in the woods, fighting guerrillas until dark?"
"this……"
The chief of staff was confused and racked his brains for a long time but could not find a solution!
Finally he sighed and replied: "Sir, if this is the case, there is nothing you can do about your humble position!"
"We have too few troops, especially the independent mixed brigades, which are not in place yet! If they were here, these would not be a problem. The troops could go out now to encircle and suppress those attacking troops and make dumplings out of them all!"
The army commander shook his head and said in denial: "No, our troops are not many at all!"
"There are two more troops, and they are stationed in the hinterland of the garrison base. Chief of Staff, you seem to have forgotten!"
After saying that, the commander pointed his baton at the small flags representing Guangling and Laiyuan counties on the sand table!
The chief of staff's eyes lit up at first, but soon dimmed, and he answered helplessly!
"Sir, it's not that I forgot about them due to my humble position, it's that there is no possibility of them being transferred!"
"The garrison has deployed a large number of troops outside the city, and has also strengthened a lot of heavy weapons. We are waiting for them to leave the city!"
"If we order them to leave the city now, wouldn't that be a sheep entering the tiger's mouth?"
The army commander answered confidently: "In the past, it was indeed a sheep entering the tiger's mouth, especially after they equipped a large number of flying thunder cannons!"
"But not after tonight!"
"I just said that the garrison's strength is insufficient, including the insufficient number of artillery and their limited strength!"
"Remember what I said more than two hours ago?"
"As long as we confirm that there are indeed Eighth Route Army troops lurking around the remaining strongholds on the defense line, we will have a way to defeat the enemy, and we will solve the problem with the strength of the garrison regiment!"
"This is the telegram you just sent me. Let's immediately count the number of lurking troops reported in the garrison!"
In less than two minutes, the chief of staff finished the statistics, and his face was rekindled with hope. He reported with excitement: "Sir, the telegrams that have been received include more than 5,000 lurking troops. There must be a lot of water in them, but the three
Thousands of people will definitely be indispensable!"
"In addition to the bases that have not yet sent telegrams and reports, there must be four thousand people!"
"If you add the eight offensive troops that entered our occupied area, the garrison has mobilized more than 7,000 troops tonight, maybe 8,000 troops!"
"According to the intelligence, the total number of main troops and local troops controlled by the garrison is only 10,000 people. If we remove 8,000 people here, the troops in Hunyuan cannot move. If we remove more than 1,000 people, then Laiyuan, Guangling,
The three counties of Lingqiu are empty!"
"Only a few hundred local troops are left to maintain law and order!"
"Sir, I understand what you mean. We don't have enough troops, and the garrison's troops are even more insufficient!"
"If the garrison troops from Guangling and Laiyuan counties take the opportunity to dispatch and cause havoc in the hinterland of their base areas, they can directly destroy their base areas and cut off the foundation for their survival!"
"Then we turn around and head towards the defense line, cooperate with the remaining garrison troops on the defense line, and attack the lurking troops from the front and back. Then they will definitely be doomed!"
"Without those lurking troops, we can concentrate our forces and make dumplings for the eight attacking troops without any worries and eat them!"
"In this case, we will win this battle!"
"Kill the garrison without waiting for the independent mixed brigade to come over!"
By the end of the sentence, the chief of staff's face was filled with joy, as if he was waving to himself after seeing victory!
The army commander directly agreed: "The overall idea is correct, but two of the offensive steps need to be changed!"
"According to your way of fighting, the troops will destroy their base first, and then attack the lurking troops!"
"There's a problem here."
"Our opponents are too cunning. When they attack the base area, they will definitely realize the danger. Then they will cut off their wrists, retreat quickly, and return to the base area to support them!"
"This way we can at most severely damage the garrison!"
"It will be different if we change the order of attack. After the city garrison breaks out of the county, they go directly to the defense line. They first cooperate with the remaining troops on the defense line to kill the lurking troops of the garrison, and then they divide the troops directly, making dumplings all the way, and causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace to destroy them.
Base area, cut off their foundation!"
The chief of staff quickly complimented: "Sir is wise, this method is indeed better than what I just proposed!"
This flattery was obviously shot at the right time!
The military commander smiled at that time and started giving orders!
"Now give an order to the garrison in the two counties: first confirm that the garrison outside the city has really left, then gather all the main forces to fight in the direction, and cooperate with the garrison on the defense line to kill the lurking troops there!"
"The specific combat plan is determined by the two garrison commanders themselves and does not need to be reported to the military headquarters."
"I only want the results, not the process."
"This time I want to tell our opponents that if you have too much appetite, you will be killed at any time. The defense regiment is the best example!"
The Japanese garrison headquarters in Laiyuan City received the order from the military headquarters. The commander was very excited!
After two months of being a coward, I can finally fight out, take revenge and complain when I have any grievances!
The whole person seemed to have been given a shot of blood. After reading the telegram, he started giving orders to the office door!
"Immediately notify all officers above the squadron and above the imperial association barracks in the county to come to the headquarters for a meeting. I will give them half an hour, and those who have not arrived for half an hour will engage in military law!"
"The garrison reconnaissance team will leave the city immediately for reconnaissance and bring mortars with them!"
"If the Eighth Route Army is still there, they will definitely be attacked as soon as they leave the city!"
"If there is no attack, the troops will go directly to the vicinity of the Eighth Route Army station and use mortars to conduct long-distance fire reconnaissance to confirm whether there are still Eighth Route Army troops inside the station!"
"Tell them, the faster the better, I'll be waiting for their news in the headquarters conference room!"
The conference room was soon filled with more than a dozen officers of all sizes. The lowest rank was captain, and there were several majors and lieutenants!
There are only four people in the puppet army, one regiment commander and three battalion commanders, sitting in the corner of the conference room. Their status is not even as high as that of a captain and squadron leader!
The commander didn't hide anything, he went straight to the point and stated the military headquarters' orders!
The conference room that was quiet just now suddenly became lively, like a powder keg that exploded in an instant!
Especially the Japanese officers, many people stood up from their seats, shouting that they wanted to kill and take revenge!
"Everyone be quiet!" The commander was also very excited and ordered decisively!
"I decided to leave the 1st Garrison Squadron and the 1st Battalion of the Royal Association Army to guard Laiyuan City. All other troops will attack with me. They will first attack the defense line and kill the Eighth Route Army there, and then attack other Eighth Route Army troops!"
"After the meeting, everyone will go back and prepare!"
"Weapons and ammunition are all ready. After receiving the order to attack, we must rush to the north gate of Laiyuan within half an hour, and then fight out together!"
"Boom boom boom..."
As soon as the order was issued, several faint explosions came in!
Several Japanese soldiers subconsciously stood up from their seats, thinking that something had happened. They reacted very quickly!
"Don't be nervous!" The commander raised his hand to signal everyone to calm down!
"This is our reconnaissance force's artillery reconnaissance of the garrison station outside the city!"
"I believe that news will come from the observation post at the top of the city soon to confirm whether the garrison stationed outside the city has really left!"
"Bang bang bang..."
A knock on the door soon sounded, and then the conference room door was pushed open, and the staff officer on duty rushed in with excitement!
"Sir, the observation post at the top of the city called to report that there was no movement after the garrison station outside the city was shelled. There is definitely no one inside!"
After hearing this good news, the atmosphere in the conference room became even more enthusiastic!
Except for the two left-behind officers, everyone else stared at the commander with burning faces and eyes shining!
For the commander, this was also good news, dispelling the last concern in his mind.
He glanced at the clock on the wall of the conference room and began to give orders: "It is one o'clock in the morning, I will give you half an hour to prepare! In half an hour, all the attacking troops will gather at the north gate of Laiyuan."
"At 1:30 in the morning, we will fight out on time!"
"The remaining troops will be on heightened alert from now on, and the entire Laiyuan City will be under martial law. No one can enter or leave until the battle is over!"
