Seeing that the division commander became more and more happy as he talked, the chief of staff did not want to interrupt his elegance.
But the war was urgent, so he interrupted bravely: "There is one more thing!"
"Since last night, the mopping up troops operating outside the city have been attacked by the Eighth Route Army cavalry one after another, and nearly a hundred people have been lost."
"In a humble position, I took the decision without authorization and ordered the mopping up troops to retreat and abandon the villages and towns they occupied during the day yesterday."
The smile on the division commander's face was slowly replaced by seriousness: "The garrison has begun to take action.
"Use the cavalry's mobility advantage to sneak attack us to tire and consume us."
"Chief of Staff, since the troops are ready for battle, let's start the attack, take back the initiative on the battlefield, and let the garrison fight at our pace."
His eyes quickly shifted to the sand table, pointing at Lingqiu City and ordering: "Let's attack here directly."
"In the Chinese words themselves, our next action is called going straight to Huanglong."
"According to the intelligence, the garrison regiment headquarters is still in Lingqiu City. We will go straight into Lingqiu City and kill their regiment headquarters. We will definitely be able to force the main force of the garrison regiment to come out and fight us."
Immediately afterwards, the division commander pointed to the mountain behind Lingqiu City and continued to give orders.
"The intelligence department also found that the arsenal we want to destroy is hidden in these mountains."
"Although we don't know the specific location, as long as we enter the mountain, we will definitely find some clues."
"I decided to divide the troops into two and move forward together to attack Lingqiu City and the Garrison Regiment Armory respectively, leaving the remaining troops to focus on one thing and lose the other."
"Zhonggu Alliance: Replenish a heavy artillery brigade, two garrison brigade, a chariot squadron, and a regiment of the Imperial Army to attack Lingqiu City, chase the headquarters of the garrison regiment, and force the main force of the garrison regiment to show up for a decisive battle with us."
"Lichuan Regiment, add a heavy mortar brigade. Two garrison brigades, and one regiment of the Imperial Association Army, bypass Lingqiu City and directly attack the garrison regiment arsenal."
"The other troops stay in Laiyuan City. Chief of Staff, you are responsible for organizing them into a mixed detachment as a reserve force for the entire army, ready to reinforce the battlefield at any time."
The Japanese army did such a good job of keeping secrets that the garrison did not receive the news until the next day when the troops left Laiyuan City and rushed toward Lingqiu with murderous intent.
The two places are dozens of kilometers apart, and the Japanese army could march over them in less than a day.
There are too many things that need to be moved in Lingqiu City.
In addition to the headquarters of the garrison regiment, there are also field hospitals, logistics agencies, ordinary people who follow the garrison regiment, and a large amount of supplies that have not yet had time to be transferred into the mountains.
The military situation is urgent, and Li Hao has no time to discuss countermeasures with everyone.
Directly acting as the leader of the group, he acted arbitrarily and gave firm orders.
"Political Commissar, you command the regiment headquarters to retreat and cover the transfer of the villagers. The chief of staff and I are responsible for blocking the Japanese attacking troops and buying you time to ensure that the little Japs cannot enter Lingqiu City before dark."
"Deputy Commander Luo assisted the political commissar in transferring supplies."
"If you really can't take it away, bury it on the spot."
After saying that, Li Hao picked up his armed belt and binoculars and walked outside the headquarters, followed closely by Hong Linfeng and the guards.
Li Hao ordered as he walked: "The mobile battalion will set off with me first. Chief of Staff, you and the other troops will march over quickly."
"Go directly to Xinmaling to establish a blocking position. The terrain there is good and beneficial to us. It should be able to hold off the Japanese for at least two hours."
With more than 10,000 troops, plus artillery and tanks in coordination, the formation stretched for seven kilometers.
An infantry brigade and a tank squadron took the lead, forming a search formation with a front of more than one kilometer in front of the main force. The infantry was in front, and the tanks and armored vehicles were behind. It was like a huge rake, completely covering the five hundred meters on both sides of the road.
Comb through the bottom.
Wherever they go, no matter where there is the slightest movement, a dense rain of bullets will hit them, ensuring that the search area is free of danger.
With the vanguard unit at the head, the main force marched extremely fast.
When Li Hao rushed to the battlefield with his mobile battalion, the Japanese army was already thirteen kilometers away from Laiyuan City and still twelve kilometers away from Xinmaling. They could kill them in two hours.
In this case, the main force of the regiment led by the chief of staff arrived there just in time, and established a blocking position as there was no time to build fortifications.
Seeing Chen Wei and Zhou Wu, Li Hao asked anxiously.
"Is it possible to slow down the march of the Japanese army by destroying the road? They have brought heavy artillery. If the road is not good, they will definitely not be able to move."
Chen Wei shook his head and replied: "We tried it, but it didn't work."
"The Japs were very well prepared. The engineering troops brought bulldozers. The roads we worked so hard to destroy were repaired by the bulldozers in just one go. They couldn't hold them back at all."
"What about using guerrilla warfare to attack and harass?" Li Hao frowned and continued to ask.
"No way!" Zhou Wu replied.
"The Japanese army is very vigilant. After the search by the forward troops is completed, a group of guard posts with a machine gun will be left every two hundred meters on both sides of the road to prevent us from sneak attacks."
"There are also planes that are patrolling and alert above us all the time. As long as there are troops exposed and concentrated together, they will immediately pounce down and shoot with aircraft machine guns.
Li Hao's brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and he took a long breath and made a decision: "Since there is no way to win, we can only fight hard."
"There is a hilltop five kilometers ahead, right next to the road. The mobile battalion company will go over there, occupy it, and guard it for... half an hour..."
Li Hao said the last few words through gritted teeth.
Time is limited, and the company will definitely not have time to repair fortifications. All it can take advantage of is the terrain.
Head-to-head confrontation with the little Japs who have a strength advantage of nearly a hundred times, and still holding on for half an hour, is not much different from death.
Li Hao could imagine that in less than half an hour, the entire company would be wiped out under the joint attack of Japanese infantry, tanks, artillery, and aircraft.
So this order is, to a certain extent, asking Yilian to die.
But Li Hao had no choice.
For the sake of the overall situation, for the sake of the garrison headquarters and the people who are being transferred to Lingqiu City, those who deserve to be sacrificed must be sacrificed.
The first company commander must have thought of this, his expression changed immediately, knowing that this was a fatal mission.
But he soon calmed down.
As an Eighth Route Army cadre with an old Red Army background and a qualified soldier, he had long put life and death aside.
So facing the arrival of this moment, I regained my composure after only a short period of tension.
He took a deep breath and replied: "Don't worry, captain, within half an hour, unless all the soldiers in the company are killed, we will never let a little devil cross the high ground."
Li Hao patted the first company commander on the shoulder: "We must evacuate the position alive."
The first company commander nodded, and then rushed towards the location of the troops.
After the opponent's figure completely disappeared, Li Hao looked at Zhou Wu and continued to give orders: "The cavalry battalion and reconnaissance company cannot just sit around and watch the show. You must take advantage of your mobility."
"If the main force of the Japs doesn't make a surprise attack on their guard posts, the two forces will cooperate with each other and kill one more Japs if they can."
"You can also raid the rear troops of the Little Japs..."
"In a word, I will try my best to kill and injure the little devils who have the strength to do so."
"The remaining troops of the mobile battalion follow my command and go to find favorable terrain behind the first company, establish a line of defense, block the little Japs step by step, and buy time for the chief of staff."
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