Okamura Neji answered with a stern face: "It seems that Hase-kun is no longer suitable to stay in Baoding!"
"Two county towns were captured by the Eighth Route Army. How dare you hide such a big thing. If we let him stay there, we won't even know that Baoding City will be lost one day!"
Major General Hase was already committing meritorious deeds, but now he has made a big mistake of concealing military information. Even fools know that he can't stay in Baoding any longer. No matter how stupid the chief of staff is, he will not stand up and help him finish his story at this time.
Following Okamura Neji's idea, "I also think that the commander of the mixed brigade stationed in Baoding should be replaced!"
"It just so happens that the Baoding garrison has also changed. Now someone is sent to take over as the brigade commander, which will bring a new atmosphere to the Baoding area!"
"But the Eighth Route Army in Baoding is developing too fast. It is difficult to achieve results in a short period of time with the existing strength of the mixed brigade alone!"
"If we want to nip the Duer Regiment in the bud and not give them a chance to gain a foothold outside the mountains, we must dispatch troops from other places to kill them and win the battle quickly."
Okamura Neji stared at the sand table for a long time without saying anything, but his mind was running rapidly.
A minute later, he suddenly spoke: "Detach a reinforced regiment from the mixed brigade stationed in Peiping to reinforce Baoding, and then strengthen them with a tank brigade, a cavalry brigade, and a heavy artillery brigade."
"The Baoding garrison dispatched two to three thousand men at the same time, plus the cooperating Imperial Army, and gathered 10,000 men to attack the Duer Regiment, destroy them, and at least drive them back into the mountains."
"Let Colonel Kawasaki lead the team. After completing the mission, all the troops transferred from Peking will return. Colonel Kawasaki will stay in Baoding and serve as the acting brigade commander of the mixed brigade."
"As far as I know, His Majesty the Emperor has agreed to be promoted to Colonel Kawasaki. When he kills the Duer Regiment and recovers Wangdu, Junpei, and Mancheng, the order to be promoted to the rank of major general will arrive at the front army headquarters."
…………
When Kong Jie returned to the Duer Regiment Headquarters, he immediately went to inspect the tunnel network being built in the base area.
As soon as they saw a place, the regiment guard chased after him: "Regiment commander, the chief of staff asked you to go back immediately. There is an emergency at the regiment headquarters that needs you to deal with."
Kong Jie frowned and hurried to the regiment headquarters. After thinking about it all the way, he didn't think about what emergency the guard was talking about.
The Japanese and puppet troops in Baoding had just experienced a major defeat, and they didn't even dare to send troops rashly given the courage.
Looking at the entire Yizhong Plain, no other enemies could be found that could threaten the main force of the regiment and the three garrison regiments.
He ran into the war room and asked Liu Sen: "Chief of Staff, what's the emergency that calls me back in such a hurry?"
"The head of the General Headquarters just sent an urgent message, asking us to be on the lookout for Ningji Kaokamura. He said that Baoding has a special geographical location. It is very close to Peiping and is equivalent to the south gate of Peiping. Once Baoding is in crisis, there will be security risks in Peiping."
"How can we allow others to sleep peacefully in this bed... Okamura Neji will never allow us to grow in Baoding and threaten the security of Baoding."
"If that old devil Gangcun Ning sees our development potential, he will definitely send troops directly to reinforce Baoding and attack us. The chief asked us to take a longer-term view, not just focus on Baoding, but have an overall view."
After Kong Jie read the chief's reply, he stared at the huge map of North China on the wall. While reading, he ordered: "It is better for the head of the general headquarters to look at the problem comprehensively... We did only consider the Japanese and puppet troops in Baoding, and did not consider the special situation of Baoding." Geographical location, let alone how Okamura Neji might react to us."
"Thankfully the chief warned us, otherwise we would have suffered a big loss."
"Send a telegram to Huang Yu immediately and ask him to hand over the troops to Wang Lin and report to the regiment headquarters immediately..."
"The special operations will start immediately and a detachment will be deployed to monitor Baoding. Every move of the Japanese and puppet troops will not be missed."
"The remaining two detachments immediately marched thirty kilometers to the north square for reconnaissance. Keep an eye on all the roads and railways from Peking to Baoding. If any Japanese and puppet troops enter Baoding, report them immediately to the regiment headquarters. Not even a single soldier can Let it go.”
"Ningji Okamura is the commander of the Japanese North China Front. He has rich command experience and is particularly familiar with the tactics and tactics of our Eighth Route Army. We must be cautious when fighting with such people. Any carelessness may lead to fatal attacks on the troops."
"We must also ask the guerrillas, local armed forces and intelligence personnel within the base area to all take action and closely monitor every unfamiliar face operating within the base area."
"Any military operation is inseparable from intelligence support. If Neji Okamura really plans to intervene in Baoding, he will definitely send people to investigate us in advance."
"Find the little Japanese intelligence officers and arrest them one by one."
"The less they know about us, the higher our chances of winning during counter-mopping operations in the future, and the better we can catch them off guard on the battlefield."
…………
At the Eighth Route Army General Headquarters, the Deputy Chief of Staff hurried into the headquarters. When he saw the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, he reported with fear on his face: "Chief, that old devil Neji Okamura has really taken action!"
"After you think he will intervene in Baoding, I made a special study of the Japs garrison around Baoding and found that only Peking can mobilize heavy troops to support Baoding. I quickly contacted the intelligence personnel operating in Beiping City and asked them to help monitor every move of the Japs in the city. "
"Early this morning, the Japanese troops stationed in Peiping suddenly dispatched three infantry brigades, a tank brigade, a heavy artillery brigade, and a cavalry brigade, plus other directly affiliated troops, a total of 5,000 Japanese troops, and headed towards the Baoding area in a mighty manner. "
"Ningji Okamura replenished the Baoding mixed brigade with two thousand recruits, weapons and equipment, and at the same time set out from Tianjin, and five thousand elites dispatched from Peiping protected them as they headed south."
"Investigation shows that among the weapons and ammunition transported from Tianjin to Baoding, there are more than 20 Guangshan field guns. If all these guns are equipped with troops and form combat effectiveness, then the little devils who attack the Duer Regiment this time will be powerful, and nothing else. It is said that there are more than 30 artillery pieces with a caliber of 75 mm or more."
"Although Kong Jie's Duer Regiment has a field artillery battalion, compared with the Japanese, the artillery is not enough to fill the enemy's teeth."
The deputy commander frowned and ordered: "Forward this information to Kong Jie immediately..."
"Tell them that there is a huge disparity in strength between the two sides. Fight if you can, and retreat if you can't. You must not fight with the little devil..."
"As long as we keep the troops, if the base area is gone, we can still win it back from the Japanese in the future. If the troops are gone, the situation they finally managed to open in the Yi Zhong Plain will be ruined."
"It's a pity that we don't have troops operating in the Beiping area."
"If there is, even if there is only one battalion, it will put a lot of pressure on Okamura Ningji if he comes out to make a fuss. Maybe the three infantry brigades that reinforce Baoding will be reduced to two brigades..."
(End of chapter)
