"What about the dozens of trucks of supplies, weapons and ammunition we carry?" a second lieutenant reminded!
"People can walk on the slopes next to the road, but big cars can't!"
"There are also those who are seriously injured and those who have minor injuries to their legs and feet. Without large trucks to transport them, they simply cannot walk!"
Matsumoto thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and ordered: "Burn all food and supplies!"
"Since we can't take it back, the Eighth Route Army can't even think of taking it back!"
"All weapons and ammunition will be carried by the Imperial Army during the march. If you can take them away, take them away. If you can't take them away, blow them up!"
"As for the wounded, let the Imperial Alliance Army carry them as well!"
The second lieutenant did not accept the order immediately, but continued to remind: "But if this happens, the marching speed of the troops will definitely slow down!"
Matsumoto glanced at his watch and replied: "It doesn't matter if you go slower. There are still nearly eight hours until dark, and there are only less than thirty kilometers left from here to the county seat. As long as we can get to the county seat before dark, it will be safe."
Got it!"
On the high ground a few hundred meters away, watching the Japanese and puppet troops ignite truck after truck of food and supplies and then burn them into fireballs, the commander of the first company of the mobile battalion was very heartbroken!
In his eyes, although the food was still in the hands of the Japanese, it essentially belonged to the Eighth Route Army!
If the little devil is burning food now, he is burning his own things!
As more and more food was ignited, the expression of heartache on his face became stronger. I wanted to rush out now, kill the Japanese and puppet soldiers on the road, and grab the food that had not been ignited!
"Company commander, don't be impulsive. You have forgotten the battalion commander's order!" the instructor comforted him in time!
"Look at the little devils on the road, with their machine guns, rifles, and grenade launchers all well set up and staring at the surroundings with vigilance on their faces, just waiting for us to rush over and hit their guns and fall into the trap!"
"There are also planes in the sky that have been circling above our heads and not leaving!"
"If you rush out now, you will be a living target!"
"Even though we have a large number of people, we are still vulnerable to planes. Just one bomb can wipe out all of us!"
The company commander slowly calmed down, clenched his fists and cursed: "Wait, little devil, I don't believe the plane can keep hovering above us!"
"I remember the regimental commander said that the aircraft's fuel is limited. Under normal circumstances, it takes less than two hours to fly back to the battlefield!"
"The plane above us will leave in an hour at most!"
"Then take advantage of the gap before the second plane arrives and deal with them well!"
"When the reinforcements arrive, we will act together and kill them completely!"
In Taiyuan Japanese Military Headquarters, as time passed by, the atmosphere became more and more solemn!
Half an hour ago, Guangling County sent a farewell telegram, and then lost contact!
Twenty minutes ago, the plane that went to Laiyuan City showed no sign of any imperial army activities there!
The worst outcome of the entire counterattack is emerging in front of the army commander little by little!
The chief of staff suddenly walked in with a telex newspaper in his hand and a solemn look on his face!
Seeing the commander looking at him, he quickly walked to the sand table, pointed at a point and reported: "Sir, the aviation force has an urgent call!"
"They found a large number of corpses of the imperial army in this hilly area more than 20 kilometers away from Laiyuan City!"
"Along the road, nearly two kilometers of battlefield, there are corpses everywhere!"
"But they found no Eighth Route Army troops nearby!"
Although he had expected it, the commander still looked as if he had aged several years in an instant, and replied with a stern face: "Sure enough, something happened!"
"I think I probably understand the garrison's combat ideas!"
"First look for favorable terrain to ambush our attacking troops, kill them quickly, then pretend to be the attacking troops and break up, pretend to open the gate of Laiyuan City, and sneak in silently!"
"Our remaining troops in Laiyuan City must have been killed by the Eighth Route Army entering the city before they could react, so they had no chance to report the news that Laiyuan was under attack!"
"Bageya Road, who can tell me where the Eighth Route Army that attacked Laiyuan came from."
"Aren't all their troops on the front line? Why are there so many people lurking near Laiyuan!"
The chief of staff shook his head and replied: "It's not clear yet!"
"But the humble official has ordered the intelligence department to investigate."
"Also, in addition to the counterattack troops sent by Laiyuan, the troops sent by Guangling have also been found!"
"The plane discovered the battlefield fifteen kilometers away from Guangling City!"
"Nearly a thousand corpses of the Imperial Army and the Imperial Alliance Army are lying there!"
"In addition, all our troops who broke out from the blockade were intercepted and attacked by small groups of the Eighth Route Army!"
"The troops are marching very slowly, and the casualties are high. Several troops have determined that they will not be able to reach the nearest county seat and stronghold before dark!"
"The eight offensive troops of the garrison that penetrated deep into our hinterland were also very difficult to deal with. They disappeared from the battlefield after dawn!"
"No, to be precise, it's not that it disappeared, but that it broke into parts and operated in squads in the areas occupied by the imperial army!"
"Attack the maintenance committee that was too late to retreat and the local armed forces that worked for the imperial army."
"Because their troops were too scattered and their targets were too small, the aircraft we sent to the battlefield posed no threat to them. Several large strongholds and county garrisons took the initiative to attack them under the cover of aircraft, but all failed!"
"They did not engage in head-to-head combat with our troops at all. They constantly dispersed their forces, engaged in guerrilla and mobile warfare with us, and led our troops to hide and seek in the mountains."
The army commander took a breath and shouted: "The Eighth Route Army wants to swallow up our occupied area!"
"The Imperial Army, the Imperial Association Army, the Maintenance Council, the spies... we won't let anyone go!"
"BaGeYaLu, if they swallow so many things in one go, aren't they afraid of choking to death?"
"Order, the retreating troops will retreat as far as the nearest large stronghold and county seat. The imperial army that cannot reach the stronghold before dark will not retreat. They will find favorable terrain to establish defensive positions. After dark, they will fight to the death with the Eighth Route Army that besieged them.
!”
"Rather than being consumed by the garrison's guerrilla warfare on the way back, and not even seeing the shadow of the enemy before they died, it's better to stop and look for favorable terrain and fight to the death with the garrison, so that they can kill a few more before they are destroyed.
Eighth Route Army!”
"At the same time, mobilize the intelligence department and figure out what happened last night at all costs? Where did the garrison come from with so many troops?"
"There were so many counterattack troops sent out by the two counties, well-equipped and with sufficient ammunition. How could they be killed by the enemy silently? They didn't even have time to send a farewell telegram!"
"Until these issues are clarified, this battle cannot continue."
"We are like blind and deaf people on the battlefield. We don't even know how many opponents there are, where the troops are, and what the equipment is like!"
"Finally, order all large strongholds and counties around Laiyuan and Guangling to strengthen their security. These places must not be lost again!"
"Find a way to strengthen them with some heavy weapons, especially heavy mortars, which are powerful weapons against the defense regiment's flying thunder cannons and siege mountain cannons!"
"I will rely on them to build a new blockade and hold back the garrison!"
"If it is lost, the base area of the garrison will continue to expand, and the strategic maneuver space for fighting us in the future will also be greatly increased, and the strength of the troops will also be greatly increased!"