Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

A direct assault on the Japanese would result in far greater casualties; by comparison, the current situation is the best possible outcome.

The Japanese soldiers lost the cover of advantageous terrain and instead entered their encirclement, and the situation was reversed all at once.

"Commander, Commander, the team monitoring the Japanese command post has sent a message." At this moment, a telegraph operator rushed over to report.

Upon hearing this, Li Jin quickly took the telegram and began to read it. When he saw that the Japanese special forces had left the command post, a smile finally appeared on his lips.

"Commander, it seems the plan has succeeded?!" Liu Changshun couldn't help but laugh when he saw this. If the plan hadn't succeeded, the commander wouldn't have shown such a smile.

"Yes, send them a telegram back and tell them to proceed according to plan. Once the Japanese troops pass through our area, I will send them a message, and they should immediately launch an attack on the Japanese command post!" Li Jin nodded and then gave the order.

The number of people they ambushed Yamamoto's special attack team was not large, only about two thousand, but they concentrated most of their firepower. Their goal was to inflict heavy casualties on the Japanese before the two sides clashed, so that they could gain the upper hand when the battle began.

After all, Yamamoto's special attack force was not weak, and they had to gain the upper hand from the start, otherwise their casualties would increase.

"Understood!" The telegraph operator nodded and immediately went to send the telegram.

"Commander, it looks like we'll be able to take care of the Japanese secret unit soon." Liu Changshun was also delighted.

No matter what secret troops they are, they are nothing but clay chickens and earthenware dogs in the face of overwhelming firepower. If you want to set a trap for them, you have to be prepared to be annihilated.

"Don't be too happy yet. We must not be careless before the results are in," Li Jin said with a serious expression.

He wouldn't be careless even when facing ordinary Japanese troops, let alone the powerful Yamamoto Special Attack Corps.

"I understand, but I'm really curious whether this unit's combat effectiveness can truly rival ours," Liu Changshun said.

He had never seen a Japanese unit whose combat power could rival that of a special operations regiment, so he was still full of curiosity about this Yamamoto Special Attack Corps.

"I estimate the difference won't be significant, but given our overwhelming advantage and the fact that we've ambushed them, it's practically impossible for them to escape," Li Jin said slowly.

Given equal combat strength and roughly the same number of people, if one side is ambushed by the other, they basically have no chance to fight back.

"At that time, the most important thing is not to give the enemy a chance to escape!" Li Jin continued. He was confident in defeating Yamamoto's special attack team, but he was still a little unsure about annihilating them completely.

"Don't worry, Commander, the soldiers are all on high alert," Liu Changshun said. When the soldiers learned that their opponents were no weaker than them, none of them dared to be careless, because one careless move could easily lead to trouble.

"Mm." Li Jin nodded.

.........

On the other side, Tani Hisao received a telegram from the 33rd Brigade. When he saw that the 33rd Brigade could not break through and could only hold their ground and fight the enemy to the death, his face immediately darkened.

"Division Commander, what happened?!" The Japanese regimental commander next to him swallowed hard and asked nervously, already having a bad feeling.

"The 33rd Brigade's breakout attempt failed, and now they have no choice but to fight the enemy to the death," Tani Hisao slowly recounted the situation.

"It seems the enemy was indeed prepared long ago." The Japanese regimental commander was somewhat shocked upon hearing this, but he had already made a prediction in his mind.

"Send a telegram to Division Commander Banheng and tell him the situation." Tani Hisao sighed. He had originally planned to inform the 33rd Brigade after they broke through, but he hadn't expected that the 33rd Brigade's breakout attempt would fail.

"Yes, sir!" The Japanese regimental commander nodded and personally went to send a telegram to Itagaki Seishiro.

.........

In Taiyuan, Itagaki Seishiro was awakened from his sleep by his subordinates.

"What happened?!" Seishiro Itagaki opened his eyes, his eyeballs filled with red blood vessels. He hadn't slept well for days because of the immense pressure.

"Division Commander, Division Commander Tani Hisao has sent a telegram." The Japanese brigade commander handed the telegram to Itagaki Seishiro, his face covered in cold sweat, because the contents of the telegram were too shocking.

Seishiro Itagata reached out and took the telegram, reading it. Instantly, his drowsiness vanished, his eyes widened, and his pupils contracted, as if he had seen something terrifying.

"Is this telegram really real?!" Seishiro Itagashi asked.

"It's true. That Northeast Army unit didn't fall for the trap and went to attack the 33rd Brigade. Now the 33rd Brigade's breakout attempt has failed, and they have no choice but to fight the enemy." The Japanese brigade commander hurriedly said, having already confirmed the contents of the telegram.

"Baka!!! How could this be? How could such a perfect plan be seen through by the enemy?!" Seishiro Itagaki was also somewhat disoriented. If the 33rd Brigade were annihilated by the enemy, the loss would be too great.

He would rather have a Class B division completely annihilated by the enemy than see a Class A division brigade completely annihilated; the two sides were hardly comparable.

"Division Commander, did you not finish reading the telegram?! It contains speculation about why the enemy saw through the plan," the Japanese brigade commander said hesitantly.

Upon hearing the division commander's words, he knew that the other party definitely hadn't finished reading the telegram.

Upon hearing this, Itagaki Seishiro had no choice but to patiently read the telegram, and his expression grew increasingly gloomy as he finished reading it.

"That Yamamoto Ichiki!!! It's all his fault! Idiot, why did he bring troops to Taiyuan in the first place? Couldn't he have just gone to another city and brought a few more people here to discuss things?! Why did he have to bring people here to demonstrate their fighting capabilities!"
As a result, the enemy discovered their tracks! This allowed the enemy to use them against them! "Itagaki Seishiro cursed and swore, he was so angry that he almost fainted.

They had made numerous preparations and mobilized a large number of troops to make the plan appear flawless, but now, the plan had failed.

"Division Commander, the plan can't be called a failure now, it's just that the loss has become a Class A division," the Japanese brigade commander said hesitantly.

You see, the division commander had previously planned to send a brigade to probe the whereabouts of that Northeast Army force. "That being said, even if we manage to annihilate this Northeast Army force, our losses will be enormous; we'll likely lose at least one and a half Class A divisions."

When has the Empire ever experienced such a situation?! Even at the Battle of Taierzhuang, we only lost tens of thousands of men.
"We're estimated to lose tens of thousands of men in a Class A division now!" Seishiro Itagaki said with a grim face. The reason he agreed to Yamamoto Ichiki's plan was that if the plan succeeded, they could reduce their losses and have more men to suppress the Eighth Route Army. But the current situation would make their losses even greater.

"There's no other way right now. At least we know where that Northeast Army is. All we need to do is surround them, and then we can annihilate them," the Japanese brigade commander said. The deed was done, and they had to wipe out the Northeast Army no matter the cost, or the consequences would be dire.

"Sigh... that's all we can do. Tani Hisao has already mobilized another brigade from the 16th Division, but I still feel it's a bit risky."

"Go and send a telegram to the New 20th Division, asking them to mobilize a brigade to join the encirclement." Seishiro Itagaki sighed. To ensure the smooth progress of the next phase of the plan, they had to be even more careful.

"Yes, sir!" The Japanese brigade commander nodded, turned around, and left.

After getting up and putting on his military uniform, Seishiro Itagata left the room and went to his office. He looked at the phone on the table, hesitated for several minutes, and then got up and called Commander Yoshio Shinotsuka.

"Moses, Moses, please connect me to the commander's call. I have an important battle report to give!"

"Please wait."

While waiting, Itagaki Seishiro was thinking about how to bring up the matter. Although Commander Shinotsuka had said that no matter the cost, they would eliminate that Northeast Army, he knew in his heart that Commander Shinotsuka still hoped that the cost would not be too high.

Otherwise, Yamamoto's special attack force wouldn't have been recalled from abroad in advance to meticulously plan the operation. But now, a major problem has arisen: annihilating that Northeast Army force would likely result in heavy losses, including those of a top-tier division.

Such a loss is simply too great.

"Itagaki-kun, is there some good news to report to me?!" Yoshio Shinotsuka's voice came through with a hint of yawning.

"Commander, things are probably a bit beyond our expectations?!" Seishiro Itagaki swallowed nervously, his voice trembling slightly.

"Tell me what happened!" Yoshio Shinotsuka's tone became serious. He could tell from the tone of Itagaki Seishiro's voice that something serious must have happened, otherwise Itagaki Seishiro wouldn't be so nervous.

"Hi! Commander, just over half an hour ago..." Seishiro Itaga slowly began to recount the events from the beginning, but before he could finish, he was interrupted by Yoshio Shinotsuka.

"In other words, our meticulously designed plan was actually discovered by the enemy from the very beginning. They even laid out a plan before we did, giving us a false impression?!" Yoshio Shinotsuka said slowly.

"Yes, at first I suspected that one of us leaked information about Yamamoto's special attack force, causing the enemy to change their plans and even set up a trap for us."

But upon closer reflection, the officers who knew about the plan were all absolutely loyal to the Empire and would never defect to the enemy.

Therefore, I suspect that the Yamamoto Special Attack Corps was probably discovered by enemy intelligence on its very first day in Taiyuan, and that the enemy had already noticed its unusual nature.
"They've combined the arrival of the Sixth Division with their deductions about our next plan!" Seishiro Itagaki also voiced his guess.

In fact, regardless of whether the failure of the plan was due to the Yamamoto Special Attack Team, he certainly wouldn't take the blame because it had nothing to do with him.

"Sigh... I never expected that the plan would have problems from the very beginning!" Yoshio Shinotsuka sighed, feeling utterly helpless.

Things turned out this way, which was really beyond his expectations. He had read the detailed battle plan and there were no problems. If the enemy did not know about the existence of Yamamoto's special attack team, they would definitely fall for it.

At that time, they will be able to annihilate that Northeast Army at minimal cost.

"Commander, because the enemy also has the New 1st Regiment and the Independent Regiment involved, I've also transferred a brigade from the New 20th Division as a precaution," Itagaki Seishiro announced the deployment.

In this way, the number of people involved in surrounding the Northeast Army reached more than 40,000, of which 30,000 were soldiers from Class A divisions. With the addition of Yamamoto's special attack force, he felt that he could completely eliminate the enemy.

He estimated that the casualties would be considerable.

“One brigade isn’t enough. Transfer the entire division! We must wipe out this Northeast Army!” Yoshio Shinotsuka said coldly.

Since things are already beyond repair, we must ensure that the Northeast Army has nowhere to escape!
"Commander, if that's the case, we might not have enough manpower to encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army, even with the help of the puppet troops."
"But their fighting ability is just so-so, they can't do much." Itagaki Seishiro quickly said.

In his view, mobilizing 40,000 men to encircle and suppress that Northeast Army was already more than enough, but the commander wanted to mobilize more than 50,000 men to do so. He felt it was unnecessary to go to such lengths.

Moreover, the Eighth Route Army was still eyeing them covetously, and he worried that the situation would worsen if so many troops were suddenly transferred out.

“Commander, the Eighth Route Army has hundreds of thousands of troops. We can’t send too many people to encircle and annihilate that Northeast Army. We still have to be on guard,” Itagaki Seishiro continued.

He was still somewhat wary of the Eighth Route Army. If he sent half of his men to encircle and suppress them, the Eighth Route Army would be able to launch attacks against them without any restrictions.

“Hmm, what you said makes some sense. Well then, 40,000 men to surround and annihilate that Northeast Army, plus Yamamoto’s special attack force, should be enough to wipe them out.” Yoshio Shinotsuka nodded, agreeing with Seishiro Itagami’s assessment, but it was still best to be cautious.

Although he didn't think the Eighth Route Army could cause any major trouble, it was still better to be on guard.

"Yes!" Seishiro Itagaki nodded.

"Oh, right, send a telegram to Yamamoto Ichiki and tell him not to lose track of that Northeast Army, otherwise the encirclement will become a joke," Shinotsuka Yoshio continued to give instructions.

To be honest, Yamamoto Ichiki's performance was somewhat disappointing to him. If the Yamamoto Special Attack Team couldn't achieve outstanding results in the upcoming encirclement and suppression, it would really make him lose face.

The troops, which had been trained at great expense, couldn't even handle the Northeast Army. The headquarters wouldn't let them off easily.

“I’ll send him a telegram right away,” Itagaki Seishiro replied hastily.

"Okay, that's all for now." Yoshio Shinotsuka hung up the phone. (End of Chapter)