"I understand..." Duan Peng immediately showed an expression of realization.
"Yoshio Iwamatsu is too old and cunning."
"If we blow up the arsenal ourselves, we will indeed not be able to grab the weapons and ammunition inside, but the Shanxi garrison will also lose all its equipment."
"Keep the arsenal from exploding. Although we can steal a lot of good things, they are all small items."
"If the Shanxi garrison is lucky, they can still keep more than half of their weapons and ammunition."
"Even if we blow up the weapons and ammunition that cannot be taken away from the arsenal before leaving, they can still grab a lot of loot while chasing us."
"What a good plan..."
"I was actually blocked in front of the arsenal for half an hour because of a suspicion. It's so annoying..."
After saying that, he stood up from behind the bunker: "There are no explosives arranged in the arsenal... Go in immediately and find out the ammunition reserves inside. The faster, the better."
"Yoshio Iwamatsu figured out that our time is limited and we won't be able to take away much loot..."
"But as long as we seize the time and use the right method... there are still many opportunities to clear the ammunition depot."
Huang Yu immediately answered: "That's a good statement..."
"Yoshio Iwamatsu thinks that there is no way to transport the loot with planes overhead during the day. This is a big mistake."
"Airplanes are not everything."
"Let's find a way to cover the pilots' eyes, so they will become blind and not dare to attack us rashly."
"We can continue to do whatever we need to do on the ground, and it won't be affected at all."
After speaking, he ordered the correspondent behind him: "Contact all cadres above the battalion immediately..."
"We will arrive at the Shanxi Garrison Headquarters for a meeting in an hour to tally the results and losses, and discuss the retreat..."
…………
At the headquarters of the Japanese Army's North China Front in Peiping, Neiji Okamura looked ferocious. He flicked his arm and all the teacups, porcelain, and documents on the table fell to the ground.
After it was over, I still didn’t feel relieved.
With a "swish..." sound, he drew out his command knife and struck the vase next to the table with all his strength.
"Crash..."
A priceless vase was turned into a pile of pieces because of Okamura Neji's anger, which made the surrounding subordinates heartbroken.
"Pang pong... bang..."
Holding the command sword in his hand, he chopped several things in succession. Okamura Neji slowly regained his composure and put the command sword back into its sheath.
"Your Excellency Commander..."
The communications staff officer rushed to Neji Okamura again and hesitated for several seconds before summoning the courage to report: "Commander Yoshio Iwamatsu has an urgent message..."
"He has successfully escaped from Taiyuan City..."
"After gathering together, there are still 1,500 people in the Taiyuan garrison..."
"It is currently parked twelve kilometers northeast of Taiyuan and is on standby!"
"He hopes that the headquarters will deploy aviation troops to blockade Taiyuan City, and bomb the Eighth Route Army whenever they leave Taiyuan to block them in Taiyuan City."
"Wait until the return troops arrive, then gather them together and annihilate them!"
The chief of staff's eyes lit up and he said: "Your Excellency, Commander..."
"I seem to understand a little bit what Commander Yoshio Iwamatsu thinks!"
"He wanted to count the loss of Taiyuan as part of some military operation."
"Taiyuan City was not abandoned passively by us, but voluntarily abandoned by us in order to severely inflict heavy damage on the Eighth Route Army."
Okamura Neji's face also became better. If he handled this matter according to Iwamatsu Yoshio's method, he would not need to be responsible for losing Taiyuan City.
He snorted coldly and said, "Yansong-kun is really good at borrowing Poxia's donkey..."
"Although this can alleviate the troops' responsibility for losing Taiyuan. But if they fail to severely damage the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, his proposal in the telegram obviously does not make sense."
"The military is not a fool..."
"They don't believe whatever we say."
"Immediately call Yoshio Iwamatsu back: I can temporarily hold him accountable for losing Taiyuan, but he must make up for it and severely damage the Yizhong Eighth Route Army that attacked Taiyuan."
"Otherwise, whoever comes will not be able to keep his position as commander of the Shanxi garrison!"
"Just forward what I just said to Yoshio Iwamatsu without changing it!"
"Only in this way can the Shanxi garrison feel the pressure!"
The chief of staff asked hesitantly: "Do you want to agree to the air force support Iwamatsu-kun wants?"
"Let the aviation force cooperate unconditionally with Yoshio Iwamatsu."
"I'll make trouble for anyone who loses control."
Whether the Shanxi garrison can severely inflict heavy losses on the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong is not only related to the position of Yoshio Iwamatsu, but also to the glory of the North China Front and to his own reputation.
Okamura Neji could only unconditionally support Iwamatsu Yoshio to win this battle, making his reasons for losing Taiyuan more convincing.
…………
In the huge conference room of the Shanxi Garrison Headquarters, everyone, including Li Yunlong, had smiles on their faces and discussed with each other the great victory the army had just achieved and how many good things they had gained on the battlefield...
"Xiao Huang..." Seeing Huang Yu walking in, Li Yunlong went over to greet him.
Although we failed to kill Yoshio Iwamatsu in tonight's battle, we did capture Taiyuan City.
The Taiyuan Arsenal and Taiyuan Arsenal, which he envied the most, were also trampled under the feet of the troops.
Until now, he was still immersed in the shock of just walking into the Taiyuan Arsenal.
Boxes of weapons and ammunition were piled in front of them like a mountain, with no end in sight.
Mountain cannons glowing with blue light were placed neatly in the corner. At a glance, there were more than ten of them.
More mortars.
Some were placed on the ground, some were packed in boxes, and they were all covered with thick gun oil. You could tell they were new at a glance.
The artillery shells that the troops are in short supply are free of charge in the Taiyuan Arsenal, just open any box.
The scene made him almost unable to move his feet. If the guards hadn't urged him to come to the meeting, he would still be counting the trophies in the arsenal.
While recalling a scene, Chao Huang Yu expressed his thoughts.
"I went to the arsenal to see..."
"Weapons and ammunition are piled up like a mountain... We must get them all back. I can't bear to give up anything."
Huang Yu answered with a smile: "I also want to get them all back, but that old devil Yoshio Iwamatsu won't give us time..."
"Headquarters just forwarded a piece of information..."
"The Japanese and puppet troops in northwest Shanxi have begun to return to Taiyuan..."
"The nearest Japanese army is less than 100 kilometers away from us..."
"We can kill him at two o'clock in the morning tonight at the latest."
"We must evacuate Taiyuan before twelve o'clock tonight."
"Otherwise, the Japanese and puppet troops will chase and beat them all the way..."
"Even if we successfully escape the pursuit, the trophies carried by the troops will be lost."
"Calling everyone here in such a hurry..."
"Just discussing how the troops can take away more loot..."
After that, he read the orders of more than a dozen battalion commanders in front of him: "Time is limited, so I won't talk nonsense to you..."
"We have three things to do next!"
"Each battalion separated a company to continue to eliminate the remaining Japanese and puppet troops in the city..."
"Deploy another company to release smoke in the city so that the Japanese pilots cannot see the situation in the city clearly and cannot bomb us."
"One company is left in the city to collect mules, horses and cars..."
