At the Japanese garrison headquarters in Baoding, Okamura Neji became increasingly restless as he waited. The soldier's sixth sense made him realize that the war situation was getting out of his control step by step.
As the supreme commander on the battlefield, if he cannot even control the situation of the battle and directs the troops with his eyes closed, then the entire sweep is not far away from failure.
"Your Excellency, Commander..." The deputy chief of staff ran towards Okamura Neji quickly, holding a telegram in his hand and looking very anxious.
"Air Force urgent call..."
"The Yingmu Division still failed to capture Chenjiazhuang. About one regiment of the Eighth Route Army successfully circled behind the Yingmu Division to launch an attack."
"There are at least four regiments of the Eighth Route Army active on both sides of the Sakuragi Division..."
"The Sakuragi Division has been surrounded by the Yizhong Eighth Route Army in a narrow area of less than three square kilometers south of Chenjiazhuang. The terrain there is flat and there is no danger to defend. If the Eighth Route Army launches an attack after dark, they are likely to persist It won't be long." Neji Okamura's eyes immediately widened, he stared at the deputy chief of staff and asked with disbelief: "There are five regiments of the Eighth Route Army active around Chenjiazhuang. How is this possible? Could the aviation force have fallen into the Eighth Route Army's trick of suspecting soldiers... …”
"There are only five main regiments of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong. If they are all gathered in Chenjiazhuang, where will the Eighth Route Army that blocks the mopping up troops from the left and right come from?"
"Maybe we underestimated the enemy again. The total strength of the Eighth Route Army in Yi Zhong is more than five regiments..."
"Report..." A communications staff officer ran in with a solemn face. He raised his hand and handed a telegram to Okamura Neiji: "Your Excellency, Commander, there is an urgent message from Commander Sakuragi..."
"It seems something happened to them." Okamura Neiji grabbed the telegram and read it quickly.
The frown that was already frowning was now deeper than before. Then he slapped the telegram on the table and said with suppressed anger: "Sakura-kun's report."
"The Eighth Route Army's wing operating in Chenjiazhuang has at least six main regiments."
"They are wiping out the enemy's circular position in a narrow area south of Chenjiazhuang, preparing to hold on and wait for reinforcements."
"They also said that the command's intelligence source was better than theirs, and asked us to find out as soon as possible where the Eighth Route Army troops around them came from."
"Should we continue the original raid plan?"
"Bagya Road..."
"It's been so long since the big sweep started, we don't even know how many opponents there are."
"This is simply the most ridiculous thing in the world."
"The North China Front Command has lost all face by us."
"What does the intelligence department do? Call the person in charge of intelligence and call me right away."
"We spent so much money every day to investigate every move of the Eighth Route Army in Yichuan, but we didn't even find out their total strength. What do I want them to do?" Okamura Neiji was like a ignited powder keg, scolding anyone he caught.
The person in charge of intelligence happened to be at gunpoint, and was scolded as soon as he entered the door. The deputy chief of staff was also anxious, but he knew he had to step forward immediately to stabilize the situation and calm the commander's anger.
The middle sweep force commanded by Lieutenant General Sakuragi has been surrounded by the Eighth Route Army. If the commander decides to terminate the sweep, the sooner they break out, the safer they will be and the less damage they will suffer.
He immediately stood up and interrupted: "Commander, please calm down..."
"Things have already happened. No amount of swearing can save the frontline crisis."
"Instead of scolding him here, it is better to let him serve his crime and find out as soon as possible how many troops the Eighth Route Army has in the Yizhong area."
"The Sakuragi Division has been heavily surrounded by the Eighth Route Army and may encounter an accident at any time."
"Whether the headquarters still allows them to continue to be bait and put themselves at risk, please make a decision as soon as possible, Commander."
"The number of Eighth Route Army troops operating in Chenjiazhuang far exceeds our estimate. The number of Eighth Route Army troops blocking the mopping up troops on the left and right sides will be more than one regiment as we estimated."
"We have to think about how to deal with this in advance." Okamura Neiji glared at the person in charge of intelligence and cursed: "Why are you still standing here?"
"Didn't you hear the deputy chief of staff's arrangement just now?"
"For meritorious service, quickly find out how many Eighth Route Army troops there are in the Yizhong area."
"Where did the extra troops come from?"
"The investigation is not clear, both crimes should be punished at the same time..."
"The Sakuragi Division cannot withdraw for the time being..."
"It's almost getting dark. Now it's easy to break out and retreat and encounter encounters with the Eighth Route Army. We also have to face their endless guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare. The losses of the troops are very heavy, and there is no position to defend."
"Let them set up a circular position on the spot and wait for reinforcements. They must hold on until tomorrow morning."
"At that time, the next step of action will be determined based on their strength and equipment."
"The tasks of the left and right mopping up troops remain unchanged. We will strengthen our offensive and reach Chenjiazhuang as quickly as possible."
"As for whether the Eighth Route Army blocking them is one regiment or two regiments, it doesn't matter."
"As long as they successfully reach Chenjiazhuang and join forces with the Yingmu Division, no matter how many Eighth Route Army troops there are, they won't be able to get any advantage." The person in charge of intelligence glanced at the deputy chief of staff gratefully, then raised his legs and rushed out of the headquarters in disgrace.
The quiet war room immediately became lively. Some people sent telegrams, some made phone calls, and some marked the latest enemy situation on the sand table... The super high school station is next to the headquarters. When the person in charge returned here, he began to curse: "Get moving."
"Immediately find out for me all the information on the mobilization of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong in the past half month and sort it into categories."
"Put together those who can confirm the other party's number, and those who cannot confirm their identity. Hurry..."
"You must complete the statistics for me within half an hour, otherwise I will not let you have an easy time before I am dismissed." Even though the head of intelligence was as docile as a puppy in front of Okamura Neji, he did not dare to say a word in rebuttal.
When he returned to the headquarters of the intelligence department, he seemed to be a new person. He suddenly became extremely ruthless and said the right thing.
The group of subordinates were all so frightened that they didn't dare to say anything more and went straight to their positions.
In just ten minutes, an intelligence staff officer walked up to the person in charge with his head lowered.
"Sir, we did receive a lot of information about the mobilization of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong five days ago."
"Because the target was only an infantry company and the number of troops was too small, it did not attract our attention and was directly treated as ordinary intelligence." The person in charge of intelligence snatched the intelligence handed over by his subordinates and asked while reading: "How many such letters are there in total? intelligence."
"There must be twenty or thirty copies..." the intelligence staff member replied with a guilty look on his face.
"Nani..." The person in charge who had just stood up was frightened and fell down on the chair with a heavy and anxious expression.
After a while, he pointed at the intelligence staff officer and cursed: "You have done me a terrible job."
"So many of the same telegrams have been sent here, even a fool knows there is something wrong..." But you showed weakness and treated them as ordinary intelligence.
"Do you know how bad this will be? Maybe my military career will be over, a bunch of stupid pigs... no, the pigs are smarter than you."
