Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 85: Three-Way Siege

Taiyuan First Army Headquarters.

"Sir, this is the battle plan drawn up by the General Staff." Naosaburo Okabe handed the battle report he and the General Staff made to Seiji Kazuki.

After looking through it carefully, Katsuki Seiji nodded with satisfaction: "Thank you for your hard work, Nishi Okabe-kun."

"Hai! For the sake of our empire!" Okabe Naosaburo stood at attention.

"Don't be so serious, Okabe-kun." Kazuki Seiji waved his hand.

He had worked with Naosaburo Okabe for a long time, so there was no need to be so serious.

"What do you think about the participating troops?" asked Seiji Katsuki.

"Sir, the large force of the Locust Army that attacked the Central Army in southern Shanxi has completed its basic combat objectives."

"I think we can draw out a division as the main force, and then draw troops from the counties surrounding the Eighth Route Army base to encircle the Eighth Route Army headquarters in northwestern Shanxi." said Naosaburo Okabe.

After listening to Okabe Naosaburo's suggestion, Katsuki Seiji thought for a moment and said, "Use the 36th Division as the main force, and use parts of the 20th, 37th, and 41st Divisions to cooperate."

According to Katsuki Seiji's plan, this group of troops would have more than 3 people, and it would be no problem to capture the Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi.

"Hai!"

Naozaburo Okabe did not expect that Seiji Kozuki would be so decisive. Originally, Naozaburo Okabe wanted to dispatch a division, and then have the local county garrison troops and part of the Locust Army to assist.

After all, the Eighth Route Army, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, and the Central Army in the entire northwest of Shanxi had no more than 8 people, and a fully staffed division was more than enough to defeat them.

You should know that the 36th Division that was mobilized was a standard three-three-system horse-drawn division with a total of more than 1.5 personnel. One mountain artillery regiment alone had 36 Type 94 75mm mountain cannons.

If we add the Type 41 75mm mountain guns belonging to each regiment, there will be 48 large-caliber artillery pieces.

With such firepower, it would be easy to penetrate the troops in northwestern Shanxi.

In the headquarters meeting room, the Deputy Chief of General Staff first introduced the current situation.

After the Battle of Northwest Shanxi, with the retreat of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese advanced to Shuiquan again, but this time they were sensible and did not continue to advance westward.

According to intelligence, the Japanese are constantly mobilizing troops. Large forces are gathering in Shuiquan and Fu'an in the north, Taiyuan, Taigu, and Luyang in the east, Liangcheng, Yangfeng, and Xifen in the south, and Linxian in the west.

Moreover, according to intelligence, the Japanese target was the main force of the Eighth Route Army in northwest Shanxi.

"The Japanese army's plan this time is not small. These nine routes have a total of about 9 troops," said Master Liu.

According to Master Liu's estimation, these 3 men were the maximum force the Japanese army in Shanxi could muster. If other troops were to be drawn upon, it would inevitably give the Jinnan Guo army a chance to counterattack. After all, Wei Junru was not someone to be trifled with.

“The Japanese army did have big ambitions, but they underestimated our Eighth Route Army.

We have fought this kind of siege and blockade countless times as early as the Red Army period.

Starting from the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, the four crossings of the Chishui River, the forced crossing of the Jinsha River, and the circle around the Wumeng Mountains, which time did the Red Army not carve out a way out of the encirclement of the enemy forces that were ten times its size?
The enemy's display of force cannot scare our Eighth Route Army!" said the general.

"In the past, when we faced this kind of situation, our strategy was 'When the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy retreats, we pursue; when the enemy stays, we harass; when the enemy is tired, we attack'. Now, I think this tactic is still effective when dealing with the Japanese devils," said the Deputy Chief of General Staff with a smile.

"There is absolutely no problem in applying the Chairman's 'Sixteen-Character Guideline' here, but I think there is no need to make a big fuss like during the Long March. The current situation is still a little different from the Long March." The boss smiled.

During the Long March, the Red Army fought in a mobile manner and had no stable base. All they wanted was to escape the enemy's encirclement. But now the Eighth Route Army has established a large number of bases, so as long as there is a 3% chance, they cannot be easily abandoned.

Moreover, given the current situation, there is really no need to do so. During the Long March, the Red Army faced an army of more than 20 each time. Although they are now facing a nine-way siege by the Japanese, their total strength is only more than 9 people, which means only three to four thousand people on each route.

At this time, the Eighth Route Army in northwest Shanxi, together with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the Central Army, had at least 80,000 to 90,000 people.

Even if we don't count Guo's army, the 129th Division plus the 1st and 2nd Death Columns alone had more than 3 people.

No matter how strong the Japanese are, they can't let a few thousand of them chase around tens of thousands of troops. If that gets out, won't Old Chang laugh his head off?

"My plan is to adopt the tactics of 'internal blocking and delaying the enemy, external division and encirclement and annihilation of the enemy'."

"The troops are divided into two parts: internal operations and external operations."

"The troops on the interior lines first avoided the enemy's front and mobilized the masses to clear the fields and then, with the cooperation of the local guerrillas, blocked the enemy layer by layer, depleted and pinned down the Japanese troops on the interior lines;
The outer line troops will jump out of the Japanese encirclement as a mobile corps, and when the Japanese troops on a certain route are almost exhausted, they will deliver a devastating blow. "

The tactics the commander mentioned were also commonly used in mobile warfare during the Red Army period, and the Eighth Route Army was naturally very good at it. "Haha. Anesthetize the other troops, and then beat one of them severely." The division commander laughed.

"That's right, no matter how many directions you come, I will only go one way! Let's swim under the noses of the Japanese first, and when we see one or two enemy groups that are bold enough, we will concentrate our main forces to wipe them out in one fell swoop." said the boss.

"It just so happens that the guerrillas we have vigorously developed and the friendly forces are not good at mobile warfare. Let them stay in the interior to fight, relying on favorable terrain to block and delay the Japanese attack." said the boss.

"Can the Guo army cooperate?" someone asked.

"I have already communicated with the Second War Zone Headquarters, and Yan Xishan has agreed to cooperate with our army in combat," said the boss.

Now Yan Xishan is still thinking about retaking Taiyuan, so he still has to rely on the Eighth Route Army.

However, the boss did not put all his hopes on Guo Jun. After all, everyone who knows Guo Jun knows his style.

The boss just hopes that they can hold off for a while, and that it will be enough to buy the mobile corps one day during the annihilation battle.

After hearing the boss's words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. With the support of these fruit troops, the Eighth Route Army could be more flexible and it would not be too difficult to deal with the nine-way siege of the Japanese.

After the boss explained the things that each department needed to pay attention to, he turned and looked at Chen Chengxing.

"Chen Chengxing, your New Second Regiment is now located in the salient of all the bases, and there are the Japanese invaders from Luyang blocking the way. I would like to ask for your opinion. Do we need to withdraw temporarily?" asked the boss.

As far as the Eighth Route Army in Northwest Shanxi was concerned, the New Second Regiment was in the most dangerous and most isolated position.

If the Japanese army tries to wipe out the New Second Regiment first and then advances in large numbers, the New Second Regiment will probably be in great danger.

Chen Chengxing thought seriously about the question of deputy commander-in-chief.

But in the end, Chen Chengxing decided not to withdraw.

"Boss, since the people in the base area trust our Eighth Route Army, then my New Second Regiment naturally cannot let the people down. I have decided to lead the New Second Regiment to live and die with the base area in Dayun Mountain!" Chen Chengxing said firmly.

Chen Chengxing was not actually very worried about whether the Japanese army would attack in large numbers.

Not to mention the 36th Division in the west and south, there were three regiments and two battalions of Japanese troops assembled in the north and east alone.

The Japanese were going to send so many troops to Dayun Mountain, and the boss would wake up with a laugh in the middle of the night.

If the Japanese army approaches, they can easily destroy the bases in Hongniwan and Liangzhuang, as well as the guerrilla forces in the hilly areas outside Dayun Mountain.

However, if the New Second Regiment went into the mountains, given the terrain of Dayun Mountain, it would be difficult for the Japanese to eliminate the New Second Regiment, which was focused on guerrilla warfare in the mountains, in a short period of time.

By then, the main force of the Eighth Route Army, together with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the Central Army in the Second War Zone, will have a great chance to wipe out the 36th Division, after all, the 36th Division has also been divided into several parts.

But to be honest, considering the weight of the New Second Regiment, it is probably not worth it for the Japanese to make such a big fuss. After all, Chen Chengxing did not go to fight the Japanese locusts, and the Japanese commander would not be so demented.

Following Chen Chengxing's decision, the system prompt sounded.

[Side quest released: Break the Japanese army's 9-way siege. ]

[Mission objective: Kill all enemy troops involved in the encirclement.]

[Task reward: skill points 0-9 (the amount depends on the number of kills). ]

Chen Chengxing just glanced at the system prompt and closed it.

Although there seem to be many skill points, they are just for show. With the combat effectiveness of the New Second Regiment, they can only play a supporting role.

"Okay, since you are determined, the New Second Regiment will be free to act for the time being and wait for the next order!" The boss nodded with satisfaction.

The Eighth Route Army is the people's army and must put itself in the people's shoes and consider their concerns.

The commander then issued an order, assigning the task of mobile annihilation of the enemy to the 129th Division, and ordered them to move to the area north of Lijia Town and stay on standby.

Then he asked the deputy chief of general staff to go to Sanma Town, southwest of Luyang, to unify the command of the main force of the New 4th Brigade and the st Death Column to block the Japanese attacking from the east.

As for the 385th Brigade, they were already on the outer front, and the Japanese's siege plan did not include them. The commander's arrangement for them was to wait for opportunities to harass the Japanese's rear.

The Japanese have assembled so many troops at once, and the rear must be empty. This is a great opportunity for the 385th Brigade to develop.

(End of this chapter)