At this time, there was no need for Nakata Yamaro to remind the army commander that something happened on the front line!
A force of nearly 2,000 people, even if they were attacked by the Eighth Route Army along the way, it took such a long time to reach the battlefield, or be close to the battlefield!
As long as they are close to the battlefield, the stronghold will definitely receive the news!
But now there is no news at all, it’s like they disappeared out of thin air!
However, the commander's reaction speed was also very fast, he didn't panic, he raised his eyebrows and started giving orders!
"The air force will immediately conduct a low-altitude search along the road from Laiyuan to the blockade. I don't believe that so many people will disappear out of thin air. If you want to see people alive or dead, you will see corpses!"
"Contact Laiyuan City immediately and ask them to send troops out of the city to search. Report any news immediately?"
After saying that, the commander fell into deep thought with a sullen face, his eyes staring at the sand table, his brows sometimes furrowed and sometimes relaxed!
He is reanalyzing the entire combat plan and looking for loopholes in the middle!
Disappointingly, after analyzing it over and over again, the entire combat plan seemed to him to be perfect, with no loopholes at all!
At this time, the commander's brows furrowed even deeper, and he was puzzled!
"Sir, we have lost contact with Laiyuan City!" The communications staff officer suddenly broke in and interrupted his thoughts!
"Our phone contact with Laiyuan City was interrupted. We called on the radio, but they didn't respond!"
"Nani!"
The commander's face became even more solemn!
Although I was puzzled by the accident in front of me, my premonition of something happening on the front line had become stronger and stronger. Especially after losing contact with Laiyuan City, I was already 80% sure that something happened on the front line!
He ordered with a stern face: "Contact the aviation force and send a plane to Laiyuan immediately to confirm what happened there?"
"By the way, there's also Guang Ling!"
"If something happens to Laiyuan City, Guangling will definitely not be spared!"
"Call Guang Ling and the troops sent by Guang Ling immediately!"
"If we get in touch, ask them to step up their guard, and the attacking troops will immediately return to Guangling City under the cover of aircraft!"
"Although I haven't figured out what the garrison's conspiracy is and where the loopholes are in the entire combat plan. But based on my understanding of the garrison, if I really have the ability to capture Laiyuan, Guangling will definitely not let it go!"
"Hi!"
The communications staff responded quickly!
But before anyone could move, another communications staff officer rushed in hastily!
"Sir, there is an urgent call from Guangling. They were attacked by the main force of the Eighth Route Army. The troops suffered heavy casualties!"
"The Eighth Route Army pretended to be their attacking troops and retreated, then suddenly launched an attack after approaching the city gate!"
"The troops left behind were caught off guard, and now the Eighth Route Army has entered Guangling City!"
"The troops are relying on the headquarters to make their final stand!"
"It's over!" the chief of staff shouted!
"Guangling is under attack and is in danger. Laiyuan City has also lost contact. As expected, it must have been captured by the garrison!"
"Coupled with the reinforcements sent by the two counties, we have lost several thousand imperial troops in just a few hours!"
The commander was furious, clenching his fists, and his eyes were as red as if they could spit out fire!
The entire counterattack was planned and led by him. He was full of confidence an hour ago, but the result was a disastrous defeat.
What's more important is that this battle was lost in an unclear manner. To this day, we still haven't figured out what went wrong with the entire battle plan.
This is what makes him most frustrated!
Of course, he also knows that he can't mess up now!
The battle on the front line is not over yet. If you mess up, there will be no need to fight the remaining thousands of troops on the front line!
Forced himself to calm down, stared at the sand table, sighed and said: "Although I don't want to admit it, and I don't know why, if we lose this battle, we have lost!"
"The top priority now is to reduce losses and then figure out how the garrison defeated us!"
"The aviation force continues to search for the two-pronged attack force that has lost contact. They want to see the people alive and the corpses if they die!"
"All the intelligence agencies were mobilized to figure out what happened to Laiyuan and Guangling last night at all costs?"
"Isn't the main force of the garrison on the front line and blockade? Where did they come from with so many main forces to attack Laiyuan and Guangling, and stealthily eat our two-pronged attack force!"
"Chief of Staff, you personally sent a telegram to the aviation force. We also need aircraft reinforcements. The more the better, go directly to the strongholds on the blockade and cover the retreat of the troops there!"
"Order the remaining garrison troops on the blockade to prepare for a breakout and retreat now!"
"As soon as the planes to reinforce them arrive, they will immediately abandon their strongholds and break out to the nearest county and large strongholds to retreat!"
"Laiyuan and Guangling are lost, thousands of imperial troops and 80% of the imperial alliance troops are gone!"
"If those garrison troops on the blockade are lost again, then our losses tonight will be huge!"
"Even if the independent mixed brigade arrives in time, we can't guarantee an absolute overwhelming advantage in front of the garrison!"
"So those thousands of troops must be preserved!"
"Use them to establish a new blockade, continue to besiege the garrison, and prevent them from continuing to grow and develop. It will also give the imperial army some breathing space, restore its strength, and create conditions for us to raid the garrison with heavy troops next."
At the Xiaozhuang stronghold, the commander, Lieutenant Matsumoto, was like an ant on a hot pot, anxious!
He received the breakout order half an hour ago. The troops were already ready, and all the equipment that needed to be taken away was crashed!
Everything is ready, as long as he gives the order, the troops can immediately rush out and leave this stronghold that may be captured by the garrison at any time!
But he didn't dare give the order!
The scene of the reconnaissance team being raided last night is still fresh in my mind.
He didn't want his more than 100 subordinates to be like those scouts and be killed by a burst of firepower from the Eighth Route Army after leaving the stronghold!
He is waiting for the air support force, the plane sent by the military!
Although I don’t know why the military suddenly issued an order to withdraw troops, and directly denied the previous order to counterattack!
But as an officer, his sixth sense told Matsumoto that something big must have happened!
Moreover, he felt that this important matter was related to his life and death. If he retreated too late, he might not be able to leave.
Otherwise, the military headquarters’ order to retreat would not have been so urgent, and even planes would have been dispatched.
"Weng buzz..."
The anxiously awaited engine roar finally sounded!
From far to near, it slowly spreads to everyone's ears!
Soon, a small black spot appeared on the edge of the sky. The black spot got bigger and bigger, and then slowly turned into a silver-white fighter plane!
"Send a signal to the aircraft immediately and ask them to cover our breakout!" Lieutenant Matsumoto ordered with a sigh of relief!
The plane saw the signal smoke and began to circle around the stronghold!
Seeing the plane in place, Lieutenant Matsumoto decisively ordered: "Open the gate of the stronghold and retreat!"
More than a hundred Japanese soldiers, more than two hundred puppet troops, and dozens of carts loaded with food, weapons and ammunition left the stronghold in a mighty manner!
The roaring planes in the sky gave the Japanese and puppet troops a lot of confidence, and they quickly marched towards the county seat after leaving their stronghold.
In the first half hour, the troops moved very smoothly!
It seemed that the Eighth Route Army lurking outside the stronghold last night was really scared away!
However, Lieutenant Matsumoto could not relax at all. He always felt like there was a pair of eyes staring at him around him!
As the surrounding terrain becomes more and more complex, this sense of crisis becomes stronger and stronger!
"Da da da……"
A string of machine gun fire confirmed his premonition. The gunfire came from the high ground on the right side of the team, and a scream came from the middle of the team.
The two imperial soldiers fell to the ground in response!
"Enemy attack, machine gun counterattack!" The squad leader next to him reacted quickly. The moment he lay down, the command knife had been drawn out from the scabbard, pointing at the hilltop where the gunshot was fired and shouting!
It only took three seconds for the two crooked handles to react, stand on the ground and start roaring.
To their disappointment, the magazine was full of thirty rounds of bullets and all were fired. There was no response from the hilltop where the gunshot was fired just now. It was as if no one was there all the time and the gunshot just now was just an auditory hallucination!
The escorting aircraft overhead also moved, flying almost close to the ground over the mountains, but again nothing was found.
"Stop shooting, the troops continue to move forward!" Lieutenant Matsumoto ordered with a stern face!
"The sneak attack just now must have been carried out by the Eighth Route Army lurking around our stronghold. They divided their troops and hid in the mountains to sneak attack on us. They hit and ran away. They are as cunning as loaches and cannot hit them at all!"
"The troops march forward in a hurry, don't pay attention to them!"
"These Eighth Route Army troops must be trying to slow down our march and prevent us from returning to the county seat!"
Lieutenant Matsumoto's analysis is very correct, but it is too difficult to break the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare by just ignoring it!
"Boom boom boom..."
Soon, a series of explosions sounded on the highway!
Matsumoto's face suddenly turned pale, and he knew from the sound that the explosion just now was quite powerful!
Two minutes later, a piece of bad news that made him miserable was reported by his subordinates.
"Sir, we encountered a series of mines deployed by the Eighth Route Army on the highway!"
"They were so cunning. Six mines were placed together, and two explosive charges were buried next to the mines!"
"We killed 13 people directly in the battle, eight people were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness, and several people were lightly wounded with injuries to their legs and feet. There is no way to continue this high-intensity rapid march!"
Matsumoto was so furious that he wanted to order the troops to stop, find the Eighth Route Army troops who were sneaking up on him, and kill them under the cover of the aircraft overhead!
But in the end I endured it!
If you really do this, you will be fooled!
The Eighth Route Army is scattered in the mountains. As long as they are not concentrated, planes will be of no use to them or even find them.
If you rush in rashly, they will definitely take you to hide and seek in the mountains until dark. When the plane leaves, they will emerge from the woods from all directions to attack you, and finally eat you!
Thinking of this, Matsumoto could only suppress his anger and order!
"The troops left the road and walked beside the road to prevent the Eighth Route Army from knowing our marching route. Then they would have no chance to lay landmines!"