The father of the sword is Kong Jie

Tanabe, an old devil, has two talents. As the chief of staff of the Japanese army dispatched to North China, this old devil has always been by Okamura's side to make suggestions, whether it is dealing with Jiang's troops on the frontal battlefield or against the Eighth Route Army troops on the enemy's rear battlefield. spare no effort.

It can be described as Okamura Ningji's right-hand man.

The battle against the Eighth Route Army's sudden siege of five cities including Licheng, Xiangyuan, Lucheng, and Shexian was originally not a good thing.

Tanabe raised a question from another angle:
"General, what do you think is more important than Licheng, Jizhong, and the destruction of the main force of the Eighth Route Army in one fell swoop?"

After this question was raised, the devil officers who participated in the meeting immediately fell into deep thought.

Then a staff officer replied: "Licheng is the transportation hub of our empire and a major military city, but if it can be exchanged for the destruction of the main force of the Eighth Route Army and the destruction of Jizhong in one fell swoop, it is indeed worth it!"

Tanabe smiled, and then said the plan in his heart:
"According to the current investigations in Licheng, Shexian, Lucheng, Xiangyuan and other surrounding areas, the Eighth Route Army is continuously increasing its troops to the Licheng area for some unknown purpose.

The most puzzling thing is that it is completely different from the last battle to siege Licheng.

This time the Eighth Route Army actually focused on the offensive and defensive battles of the positions, occupying one defensive position after another openly, and put up a long-term defensive battle.

According to the front-line investigation, these Eighth Route Army just guarded the traffic arteries, occupied the terrain to defend, and even turned a blind eye to the encirclement of our imperial troops from all directions. "

He was silent for a moment:

"We still don't know what the purpose of the Eighth Route Army is.

But one thing is clear, the main force of the Eight Routes is constantly appearing in the field of vision of our army.

They occupied some solid fortifications, and it was not easy to forcefully break through the defenses of these Eighth Route Army, but it was not difficult to just encircle them from the outside.

Since this is the case, it is better to use the strategy, completely besiege the main force emerging from the Eighth Route Army in those fortifications, and guard with a certain amount of troops. The bases of the Eighth Route Army in various parts of the north, and the battle plan to destroy the bases of the Eighth Route Army logistics station in Jizhong in one fell swoop.

As for these eight routes that were completely besieged by our army in the fortifications, they were nothing but a turtle in a urn.

After completing this strategic goal, free up your hands and slowly wipe out these completely besieged Eighth Route Army. "

For the Japanese army, it is often a headache that they cannot force the Eighth Route Army to fight a decisive battle with it.

These cunning Eight Routes ran around in the vast mountainous area, their troops were scattered, and the main force was hard to find.

However, this time the Eighth Route Army suddenly raided five cities including Licheng, Lucheng, and Xiangyuan, and directly dispatched the main force to occupy the positions, which meant a decisive battle with the Japanese army in offensive and defensive positions.

The devils did not understand the Eighth Route Army's intentions, but this did not affect their eager ambition to wipe out the main force of the Eighth Route Army in one fell swoop.

In the end, after consideration, Okamura decided to adopt the battle plan of Chief of Staff Tanabe.

This point is also determined based on the current battle situation in Licheng, Lucheng, Xiangyuan and Shexian County.

According to the news sent back from the front line, these Eighth Route Army occupied solid fortifications, coupled with the strong firepower configuration, the Japanese army carried out many fortified battles, but still failed to break through the enemy's position, and their own casualties continued. spread.

That being the case, it is better to suspend the attack, encircle but not attack, and completely trap these Eighth Route Army in those cold fortifications.

After the order was conveyed from the headquarters of the Japanese Dispatch Army in North China, the Japanese troops in various places quickly changed their tactics.

She County, Liao County, Lucheng, Xiangyuan and other places were fighting, and the situation was also changing quietly.

The Japanese army, which had been attacking the Eighth Route Army's fortifications with red eyes, gradually stopped.

The little devils seem to have received a special order not to continue attacking, but to try to build defensive fortifications around the Eighth Route Army's position. It seems that the Eighth Route Army is completely trapped in the position.

Time quickly came to May 5st.

According to the plan of the old devil Neiji Okamura, the Japanese army had completed the overall defense change of the security forces in Shandong and Shanxi a day ago.

All the field elites used in the mopping up plan were also ready and arrived at the designated combat area smoothly.

At [-] o'clock in the morning, Okamura Ningji, who was at the headquarters of the North China Expeditionary Army, issued the highest order, and the empire's sweeping operation plan was officially launched.

And determined the combat policy this time: "Focus on attacking the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang area, focus on sweeping the guerrilla units of the Eighth Route Army in the western and central Shandong areas, and at the same time increase troops to northern Shanxi and Inner Mongolia to carry out sweeping.

In one fell swoop to stabilize the law and order, and to cover the ultimate goal of mopping up Jizhong.

To carry out raids and encirclement operations against the important military stations of the Eighth Route Army and the logistics center in Jizhong, eliminate the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Jizhong, and completely destroy the base of the Eighth Route Army in Jizhong.

At the same time, various strategies such as politics, economy, and ideology were used to transform central Hebei into a security area in one fell swoop, and to serve as the combat goal of the Empire's stable rear in North China. "

Historically known as: May [-]st sweep!
For this eventual sweep against the Eighth Route Army station in the Jizhong Military Region, the Japanese army can be said to have been planning for a long time. Before the official battle started, the old devil Okamura made a series of preparations.

The advance deployment of the Japanese army for this long-planned May [-]st sweep gradually surfaced:

The Japanese First Army fought in Shanxi, using the Zhengtai Line, Licheng to Shexian, HD Highway, Yuncheng to Jincheng Highway, Shuozhou to Datong, and Baoding Highway to block the horizontal advance and build a 30-kilometer road in one go. Deep blockade.

Along the way, set up fortification groups based on medium-sized strongholds and large-scale strongholds, set up no-man's land in intervals, demolish all towns and villages, and burn all farmland.

Divide Shanxi into four regions from south to north.

This is Siheng!

From Fugu County in the north to Yuncheng in the south, relying on the Yellow River, build three longitudinal blockades along Tongpu Railway and Pinghan Railway, and build a 30-kilometer deep blockade.

This is the three verticals!

"With these four horizontal and three vertical routes, the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi will be completely isolated and scattered. The Eighth Route Army in Jindi will not be able to protect itself, so naturally it will be difficult to take care of the Jizhong area."

Tanabe, chief of staff of the Devils, said so.

In addition, the Japanese Twelfth Army in Shandong and the security forces of the First Army in Shanxi have completed a large-scale change of defense.

The Japanese and puppet troops in each blockade zone are divided into three parts:
With one part of the Japanese army, one part of the Northeast traitor crusade team, and one part of the local traitors in Shanxi, they supervised each other and supervised the war against each other.

Each stronghold and line of defense are all divided into areas of responsibility, and the details of responsibility are assigned to individuals, and military orders are forced to be issued. Any ineffective command that causes the defense area to be infiltrated or lost will be dealt with by military law.

Not only that.

Okamura knew very well that this large-scale confrontation with the Eighth Route Army might not be enough for imperial forces such as the Twelfth Army and the First Army alone.

So the old devil turned down his face and asked the Chinese dispatched army for help.

He also begged for reinforcements from four field divisions in one breath to assist the North China dispatch army to jointly attack the Shanxi Eighth Route Army along the four horizontal and three vertical blockades.

The scale of the Japanese army's raids on the Eighth Route Army's base areas reached an unprecedented stage.

Even in the direction of northern Shanxi, the old devil Okamura has made special preparations.

The Kwantung Army specially deployed two full tank brigades. A large number of tanks and armored vehicles were temporarily attached to the Mongolian Army under the coordination of infantry and cavalry to act as a mobile force.

To guard against and attack Fu Yisheng's mechanized units of the 35th Army.

The troops stationed in Mongolia fully controlled the occupied area and prevented the Eighth Route Army from coming out to make trouble.

The Northern Shanxi Military Region also used considerable forces to completely suppress the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army operating in that area.

On the Shandong battlefield, the Japanese army followed the Jiaoji line and the Jinpu line to synchronize Shanxi, strategically located in central Hebei, heading north from Baoding to Tianjin Highway, south to the Shide line; west to the Ping-Han line, east to the Jinpu line, fully blocked...

These are the big aspects, and the Japanese army has also done a lot of financing for the small aspects.

The little devil made a wishful thinking, and put on a posture of sweeping up the Eighth Route Army base areas in Shanxi and Shandong, but he chose to leave the Jizhong area temporarily.

I really thought the Eighth Route Army was a fool, and couldn't see the real intentions of his little devil!
Of course, if the Eighth Route Army was not effective in fighting the Eighth Route Army bases in Shanxi and Shandong while the Japanese army was raiding the bases of the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi and Shandong, the little devil would naturally not mind. destroy.

……

A team command.

Relying on the excellent communication links between the top and bottom of the detachment, the combat news from various places on the front line and the changes in the Japanese troops were all gathered into intelligence and reported to the headquarters.

The detachment leader Kong Jie, chief of staff Xu Guoan, deputy head Lao Zhong, political commissar Li Wenjie and other generals were conducting military analysis on the military map in front of them.

Chief of Staff Xu Guoan was the first to speak: "Old Kong, it seems that what you said is right, this little devil's vengeful sweep is indeed coming!"

As early as one or two months ago, after the Eighth Route Army's winter counter-offensive operation came to an end, Kong Jie had anticipated the possible retaliatory sweep by the Japanese army.

In fact, other generals have already predicted this.

It's just that they didn't expect that the big raid launched by the Japanese army again was quite large-scale, as Kong Jie expected.

Under the butterfly effect instigated by Kong Jie.

Even though the winter counter-offensive came to an end with victory, the bases of the Eighth Route Army were filled with joy.

Even if the Pacific and Southeast Asian battlefields broke out successively, the Japanese army needed to fight on multiple fronts, and a large number of elites were continuously transferred from China to the Pacific and Southeast Asian regions, resulting in a rapid decline in the military strength of the Japanese army in China.

Even the troops of the Eighth Route Army have developed rapidly in the past two years, especially the main combat troops of the Eighth Route Army headed by a detachment, which has achieved rapid economic and military progress.

In the end, thanks to the special propaganda of a team, and the idea of ​​being prepared for danger in times of peace that Kong Jie constantly emphasized in many military meetings.

The bases of the Eighth Route Army, including the Taihang base, Zhongtiaoshan base, Taiyue base, and military regions in central Hebei and southern Hebei.

The generals were not blindly optimistic.

Everyone realized, admitted, and made sufficient preparations in advance to deal with the still severe anti-Japanese situation in North China.

……

Kong Jie nodded, everything was within his expectations, but there were also unexpected things.

Judging from the scale of the raids launched by the Japanese army this time, the little devil's determination to destroy the base of the Eighth Route Army and completely destroy Jizhong in one fell swoop is stronger than Kong Jie imagined.

"According to the information collected by our intelligence lines from all over the country, the little devil has spent a lot of money this time, cutting and blocking almost the entire Shanxi, especially strengthening the mopping up force.

Coupled with the large-scale change of defense by the devils, we are indeed not familiar with the devils' security forces from Shandong.

The eyeliner and insiders who were originally placed in the Shanxi Public Security Army are all useless now. "

Chief of Staff Xu Guoan analyzed the situation and said helplessly, "No wonder the boss said that the old devil Okamura is the most difficult to deal with among the previous commanders-in-chief of devils.

This old devil is really bad enough. In order to completely destroy our deployment around the base area for so many years and infiltrate the devil's security forces, he even exchanged all the security forces in the two major theaters in one go.

The real grandma is a ruthless character! "

At this moment, Lao Zhong, the deputy head of the detachment, suddenly smiled and said: "Old Kong, you probably don't know, this little devil has many small tricks besides these big moves!
There are even ones just for you! "

"Oh? How do you say that?" Kong Jie asked.

Deputy Chief Zhong said: "The little devil specially arranged a large number of spies to cooperate with the main force to infiltrate our base area.

These ghost spies are very cunning, and many of them can speak Chinese, pretending to be our armed forces, guerrillas, local troops, and even militia troops, and harming our folks everywhere.

I just received the news that some folks in our guerrilla zone were not on guard for a while, and they were fooled and deceived! "

"Tricked?"

"That's right! These little devils have bad intentions. They pretended to be our martial arts team and guerrillas on purpose to harass the people and tarnish the reputation of our team.

Old Kong, guess what?

The little devils also specially found a lot of guys who look like you, as well as the brigade commander and the boss, and made a bunch of them to smear the image of you famous Eighth Route Army generals everywhere! "

Kong Jiele said: "What else is there? What kind of image is dressing me up?"

"As for your image, Old Kong..."

Deputy Chief Zhong paused, then asked with a smile, "Do you really want me to tell you?"

"Tell me! Is it possible that the eyes are bigger than the copper bell and the body is eight feet long?" Kong Jie replied.

"That's not enough!" Deputy Chief Zhong said with a smile: "I heard from the comrades who spoke, that fake Captain Kong must have big yellow teeth, a pipe that never leaves his body, is less than six feet tall, and has a hideous complexion!"

Listen to Kong Jie, is this okay?
He froze for three seconds, then cursed:
"Grandma, Ti~, this little son of a bitch dares to spoil my image, he really deserves to be killed!"