Songhu: Never Give Up

Linyi City, the Fifth Independent Brigade Headquarters

Lieutenant General Qin Yashang's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. The bad news that the Inagaki Battalion had been severely damaged had been reported.

What made him most desperate was not the bad news, but the fact that he could not get in touch with the Central Army. After receiving the bad news from Inagaki's battalion, his patience was finally exhausted and he angrily cursed:
"Bakayaro, what does that bastard Yoshino want to do? Who gave them the power to shut down the radio station? They have no conscience!"

Chief of Staff Colonel Tomohisa Anzai was on the sidelines and could see things more clearly. He could no longer deceive himself, so he said:

"General, it is possible that the Yoshino Battalion was also annihilated by the Chinese."

"Bakayaluo, even if they are annihilated, there are always remnants that run back. The Inagaki Battalion had more than 300 people running back, and even Inagaki-kun broke through;

The troops in the middle are the strongest, Yoshino--"

Lieutenant General Qin Yashang's voice suddenly stopped and he slumped in his chair powerlessly. Major Yoshino did not dare to shut down the radio and cut off contact with the headquarters. There could only be one result: being annihilated by the Chinese.

If he had not learned from the experience of the Inagaki Battalion, he would not have thought in this direction. Since the Chinese were able to severely damage the Inagaki Battalion, they could also have wiped out the Yoshino Battalion. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain why the Yoshino Battalion lost contact for a day.

As a commander, Qin Yashang cannot be complacent. It is better to believe it than not. This concerns the life and death of the other three armies, so he cannot be careless.

“General, the guerrillas are much stronger than we thought. This is a serious mistake on the intelligence front.

Although the Imperial Army still has three armies, the total strength is only two battalions. The Chinese are now in high spirits and cannot fight anymore. Let's withdraw first!"

With two of the five armies lost, even the most stubborn person knew they couldn't fight any further. Qin Yashang just couldn't bring himself to admit defeat.
Now Colonel Anxi found a way for him, so he went down the ladder and said:
"Bakayalu, are all those bastards in the intelligence department shit eaters?

There are at least tens of thousands of guerrillas in the encirclement. This is a major mistake in intelligence and a crime against the imperial warriors!

I will report them to the Commander!"

Colonel Anzai agreed with this. If it weren't for the intelligence error, they wouldn't have fought like this.

"General——"

"What are you still standing there for? Quickly order all troops to retreat to Linyi City to rest, quickly!"

Although Colonel Anzai was criticized, he still left happily. It was obvious that the brigade commander listened to his advice.

"Bakayaloo, what a bunch of rubbish!"

After Colonel Anxi turned and left, Qin Yashang cursed again. The five-way siege ended in a whimper after only a few days. His future in the army was even darker than his face.

Li Jie, commander of the Luzhong Military Sub-district, came to report from the Third Detachment Headquarters:

"Old Duan, the remaining three groups of Japanese soldiers have begun to retreat. It seems that Qin Yashang, the old Japanese soldier, has been hurt.
Lao Liao fought very well this time, do you want to catch up and kill the devils along the way?"

Duan Yulin shook his head and said:
"This is meaningless. The Japs have already made preparations. The remaining three armies have huddled together. The opportunity to fight has been lost. Forcing an attack will only increase casualties.

The purpose of our counter-mopping-up operation has been achieved. We have cut off two of the five fingers the devils stretched out. Now we have to see whether the devils will continue to fight. "

Li Jie understood Duan Yulin's meaning, and then said:

"You have thought it through. The base is still weak, so we should not fight hard and expose our strength. It is beneficial to the development of the base to stop when we are ahead. I am afraid the devils will not give up."

Duan Yulin's eyes flashed with murderous intent and he said:
"Then chop off the entire hand of the enemy that is reaching out to our base!

The 12th Army simply does not have the confidence to fight a battle involving tens of thousands of people. Although our guerrilla column does not want to fight a big battle, as long as the Japanese attack, they will fight to the end.

They can fight as hard as they want, the initiative is in the hands of the devils."

Although Duan Yulin spoke very toughly, he also thought that it was not the time for a decisive battle with the 12th Army and it would not be worthwhile to spend all the money.

Then he gave the order to stop the pursuit and retreat ten miles, still showing weakness, and the gate of the base was open to the enemy at any time.

The three Japanese armies did not cause any more trouble and retreated to the vicinity of Linyi in large strides, waiting for new orders.

Although the enemy's main force withdrew to Linyi, the problem was not solved. After losing one and a half battalions, the 5th Independent Mixed Brigade had lost its offensive capability, but this security battle could not end like this;
Qin Yashang could only bite the bullet and report the small setback to Admiral Wei Gaozhong, and accused the intelligence department of incompetence and asked for tactical guidance. Qin Yashang put the blame on the intelligence department, but Admiral Wei Gaozhong was a wise man and couldn't help cursing:
"Bakayaloo, Qin Yashang, that bastard, is getting more and more powerful. A garrison brigade can't even defeat tens of thousands of guerrillas. He has brought shame to the empire."

Although he didn't quite believe that the besieged guerrillas had tens of thousands of elite soldiers, he still agreed with part of Qin Yashang's statement. There must be tens of thousands of rabble. Otherwise, the Japanese would appear to be too incompetent, and he would lose face.

Chief of Staff Major General Kobayashi followed up on his words and said:
“Commander, the intelligence department’s assessment of the guerrillas’ strength was clearly wrong. The Yan’an problem in Shandong is far more serious than we thought.

Although the combat effectiveness of the Independent 5th Brigade is very strong, its manpower is obviously insufficient, and it is almost impossible to wipe out the guerrillas in the encirclement.

According to the report of the 114th Division, they also suffered different degrees of attacks along the railway. These attackers came from the southwestern Shandong area west of the Jinpu Line and the area north of the Jiaoji Road.
This shows that the guerrillas' activities have spread throughout Shandong, and we need to reassess their strength."

Admiral Ogata finally stopped cursing and calmed down to think about what Major General Kobayashi said. He was the first person responsible for Shandong's public security issues and had to be cautious;
He decided to listen to Major General Kobayashi's opinion, so he said:
"I basically agree with your judgment. Does the General Staff have an effective solution?"

This is the responsibility of the chief of staff. The Japanese learned the Prussian linear staff system and established a general staff headquarters. At the army level, there was an efficient staff team led by the chief of staff.

Major General Kobayashi was already prepared for the commander's question. When he saw General Okoko ask it, he bowed and said:
"Commander, the guerrillas throughout Shandong can only be dealt with by divide and rule, and the Jinpu Railway, Jiaoji Railway, and Longhai Railway, a vertical and two horizontal railways, provide a guarantee for the Imperial Army's divide and rule strategy;
To accomplish this strategy, we must first strengthen the defense on both sides of the railway line. We can set up restricted areas within one kilometer on both sides of the railway line, and any Chinese who enter the restricted areas will be shot.

This would divide the Shandong guerrillas into several unconnected groups, thus reducing their space for movement.
After that, we will concentrate our forces to defeat them one by one, sweep them in a net-like manner, and concentrate our forces to clear one area before dealing with another area, always maintaining the Imperial Army's local force advantage and taking the initiative on the battlefield. "

Major General Odaka nodded repeatedly and said:
"Yoshi, very clever tactics, Kobayashi-kun is indeed an elite of the Luda Saber Team. The most important issue now is to strengthen the defense of the railway line;

Not only must we clear the railway line, but we must also build a large number of bunkers and send out several lines of armored vehicles to patrol back and forth, first to separate the guerrillas geographically, and then to clear them out in sections. "

The 12th Army did not have the ability to launch a full-scale crackdown for the time being, so General Ogata listened to the advice of Major General Kobayashi, suspended the security war, and focused on strengthening the defense of the railway line.

The 5th Independent Mixed Brigade was completely withdrawn to the city of Linyi for repairs and to maintain military pressure on the guerrillas in the southeastern Shandong region.

With the adjustment of the enemy's strategic deployment, the base area in southeastern Shandong, which had been fighting fiercely for a period of time, returned to peace and the base area could also calm down and develop.

The actions of the Japanese on the railway line quickly attracted the attention of various military regions, and the relevant information collected was reported to the column headquarters. Yue Qianli knew what the Japanese were up to at a glance, and snorted coldly:
"The 12th Army is using the tactic of defeating them one by one. First, they built a blockade line mainly composed of railways and bunkers, trying to artificially divide our base into several large areas, and then defeat them one by one."

Chen Zhongyuan took over and said:

"This move by the devils is quite vicious. Once they achieve their goal, our military divisions will lose contact with each other and fall into the dilemma of fighting on their own. It will be a troublesome matter."

Yue Qianli said in his heart:
"This is just the beginning. If it was the cage policy that Okamura Neiji implemented after arriving in North China, that would be a real headache. This is just a low-end version of the cage."

Thinking of this, he said:

"Brothers, there is nothing to be afraid of. As the saying goes, the devil is one foot high, but the way is ten feet higher.
If they strengthen their transportation, we can launch a war to disrupt it. I want to see whether they can build faster or we can destroy it faster.

We have a large number of infantry guns and rocket launchers, and the bunkers built by the Japanese are nothing but living coffins.

Let them toss about as they please, we will shrink back and develop in our base area, dig deep holes, store up food, and develop quietly, so that we can stand firm when we have strength. "

Tian Yuanxi also agreed and interrupted to say:
"Old Yue, the imported machines have arrived. Since the Japanese are working hard to build a blockade, can our military factories also be put into operation?
There are no bullets in the warehouse, and I, as a housekeeper, am very worried."

Everyone couldn't help laughing after hearing this. Ever since he was in charge of logistics and equipment, Tian Yuanxi has been talking about his profession every other sentence.

Yue Qianli also had the same idea. Seeing that everyone was looking at him expectantly, he waved his hand and said:

"Let's do it! Let's get the bullet production line running first."

Everyone cheered. They could no longer get supplies from the government. They could not rely on the spoils of war to support tens of thousands of people.
Although they still have some reserves to last for a year or so, the days of living off their savings are frustrating.

A military factory cannot just have machines, it also needs raw materials, skilled workers, electricity, etc.

This involves an entire industrial system, and the base does not have the conditions now, so we can only do small-scale operations and then build guns and cannons when we have the necessary equipment.

It's just the production of some bullets, grenades, mines, and rockets. The raw materials needed are not much, and the original industrial system in southwest Shandong can support it. We just need to resume production.

(End of this chapter)