…………
Twenty-nine.
It was already the ninth day since the Japanese army's spring sweep ended.
Taiyuan City.
At the headquarters of the Japanese First Army in Shanxi, Commander Yoshio Shinozuka is talking on the phone with the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Japanese North China Front, Okamura Neiji.
As for the content of the conversation, it revolved around the topic of subsequent operations against the Eighth Route Army in the occupied areas after the spring sweep, as well as the stabilization of long-term security in the imperial occupied areas.
Especially in the northwestern Shanxi area of Shanxi, the spring sweep has just ended. The Eighth Route Army, especially the three regiments of the Independent Regiment, the New First Regiment, and the New Second Regiment, which are mainly composed of the Iron Triangle of the Eighth Route Army, followed the end of the sweep. They started to make a fuss and continuously launched local active military attacks.
Many strongholds in the outlying areas surrounding the Independent Regiment, New First Regiment, and New Second Regiment were attacked by the Eighth Route Army.
Even the Japanese transport troops passing through some roads and railway lines outside the three regiments of the Iron Triangle were often ambushed.
A few days ago, in the headquarters' analysis meeting, Kitagawa Ayumi, the chief of staff of the Japanese First Army in Shanxi, proposed.
"Obviously, this was an act of counter-retaliation by the Eighth Route Army for the spring raids a week ago.
Especially the three regiments of the Iron Triangle of the Eighth Route Army were the most rampant.
A few days ago, the New Second Regiment wiped out more than a dozen small and medium-sized strongholds on the periphery of its guerrilla zone; the New First Regiment also launched a counterattack against some small and medium-sized strongholds, and ambushed the imperial transport troops many times along the way; as for this independent regiment, the same Without exception, they set up strongholds, ambush imperial transport convoys, and rapidly expand the scope of the guerrilla zone.
The maintenance associations in the villages controlled by our empire have been attacked one after another, and the political power used to stabilize local security has also been destroyed by the Eighth Route Army's infiltration troops. . "
As for the situation in northwest Shanxi, even though Okamura Neiji of the Japanese North China Front Army Headquarters in Peiping had also heard about it.
When Okamura Neiji asked about the situation in Shanxi on the phone, Shinozuka Yoshio expressed deep shame.
"So Shinozuka-kun, how are you going to deal with the Eighth Route Army troops in the Taihang area next?" Neji Okamura asked in plain words.
Yoshio Shinozuka was silent on the other end of the phone for a long time, and then he slowly said: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, since the Eighth Route Army launched a large-scale raid in August 1940, the Eighth Route Army's presence in the occupied areas has , has become the biggest cancer in the long-term security of the areas occupied by the Japanese Empire."
"In this spring sweep, our army returned without success. Many problems were exposed in this battle."
"The Eighth Route Army is developing. They are seizing the time and strengthening themselves all the time."
"Force units such as the Eighth Route Army's Iron Triangle Independent Regiment, New First Regiment, and New Second Regiment may be just a microcosm of the Eighth Route Army's troops. A year ago, they could mobilize nearly 400,000 troops to launch large-scale raids, and now they have developed To what extent it will be, no one can tell.”
"The contest between the imperial troops and the Eighth Route Army troops is a contest between the plains and the mountains, and between the towns and the countryside."
"The Eighth Route Army has a broad base of civilians, and the vast mountainous area provides strategic depth. Even though the quality of equipment and soldiers is far inferior to that of the Japanese Empire, it is still extremely difficult for us to kill the Eighth Route Army."
"In the final analysis, the Eighth Route Army has been trying to occupy the mountainous areas, open up base areas, and further control the countryside, in an attempt to use the large rural areas surrounding the towns to gradually encircle the offensive against our imperial forces."
"For the Eighth Route Army in the occupied areas, the countryside is the basis of everything they have, whether it is military or economic."
"The barren mountains cannot support the huge number of Eighth Route Army troops. They can only rely on the vast Chinese countryside surrounding their homeland."
"If the Eighth Route Army is compared to a fish, then these villages scattered in the occupied areas are water. It is impossible for fish to survive without water."
"From this aspect, we can conclude that the contest between the Empire and the Eighth Route Army, and the competition between the two sides for the vast Chinese countryside, will determine the final outcome."
"If we can find sufficiently effective and targeted means to separate the Eighth Route group from the vast countryside and completely eliminate the Eighth Route Army, it may not be impossible."
"So, Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, in response to this situation, I think that when we deal with the Eighth Route Army next, we should focus on fighting for and controlling the countryside."
Since Yoshio Shinozuka took over the First Army in Shanxi, he has accumulated a lot of experience in the confrontation with the Eighth Route Army.
Regarding the research and understanding of the Eighth Route Army, Yoshio Shinozuka's work is quite in-depth.
On the other end of the phone, Neji Okamura deeply agreed with Yoshio Shinozuka's point of view and said: "The survival and development of the Eighth Route Army mainly depends on the vast rural areas of China. This is the essence."
Changing the topic, he continued: "To destroy the rural foundation on which the Eighth Route Army relies for survival in order to completely destroy the Eighth Route Army, this is also the direction we have been taking.
Since taking office in early 1939, Commander-in-Chief Tada Shun has proposed a highly targeted public security plan in North China, using a cage policy to control the vast rural areas of China step by step and shrink the Eighth Route Army's living space step by step.
However, since last August, when the Eighth Route Army launched a large-scale raid, we have realized that the so-called cage policy not only failed to achieve the goal of completely annihilating the Eighth Route Army, but actually allowed the Eighth Route Army to take advantage of the opportunity to develop.
Now that we have reached this stage, if we try to use the cage policy to deal with the Eighth Route Army, we may not be able to do it. "
Okamura Neiji had just taken office, and he somewhat belittled the former commander-in-chief Shun Tada.
But this is a fact. It was precisely because the previous commander-in-chief of North China, Shun Tada, was unfavorable in dealing with the Eighth Route Army that he was dispatched and replaced by Neji Okamura.
The conversation between the two continued in depth.
Following Neji Okamura’s inquiry, Yoshio Shinozuka said:
In order to deal with the Eighth Route Army, the imperial troops not only implemented the cage policy, but also implemented the "Three Lights" policy in their major raids against the Eighth Route Army. They killed, burned, and robbed all those villages that dared to collude with the Eighth Route Army, completely cutting off the Eighth Route Army's rural areas. Base.
Okamura Neiji asked: "So what is the effect?"
"This..." Yoshio Shinozuka hesitated for a moment and replied, "Your Excellency, Commander, is dissatisfied. Although our army implements the three-guang policy, it uses the most brutal means to completely destroy some villages where the Eighth Route Army troops rely."
"But judging from the effect, it still treats the symptoms but not the root cause. A large number of rural areas are still in the hands of the Eighth Route Army. There are still a large number of Chinese people secretly helping the Eighth Route Army to resist the empire. It seems that these hateful unruly people can't be killed. Inexhaustible."
Okamura Neiji said: "Shinozuka-kun, use control over the countryside to check and balance the survival and development of the Eighth Route Army. This direction is absolutely correct."
"But we also need to take into account the shortcomings of the imperial forces - the scarcity of troops."
"China is too big, and their people are too big. Every time we occupy a place, we are not just occupying their land, but we are trying to maintain the original economic operations in the occupied area and carry out military and economic operations in a more sophisticated way. The plunder from above is used to support our imperial troops to continue fighting. To support war with war, this is our general direction of swallowing up the whole of China."
"In this case, it is like managing a flooded river. It is better to block it than to dredge it, to kill is better to appease, to use force than to be gentle, and to be military is not as good as politics."
"We do not have that many troops to control all the rural areas. As the old Chinese saying goes, it is difficult to achieve full control if the gourd is pressed and the ladle is lifted. If we can use gentle means to make them surrender and surrender, wouldn't it be a good idea? ?”
Yoshio Shinozuka wondered: "The implementation of the Huairou policy is very slow and difficult, especially in some rural areas at the edge. The Eighth Route Army often penetrates into them to do ideological work for the Chinese people. After all, we are foreigners and have the advantage in political propaganda. If you go up, your innate ability will not be as good as those born and raised in Balu."
"How can we win over those rural areas with a gentle policy?"
Okamura Neiji smiled and said: "Huairou does not mean using soft methods alone, but a combination of hardness and softness."
"Shinozuka-kun knows that I have had many years of fighting experience with the Anti-Japanese Alliance in the three eastern provinces."
"The Northeast Anti-Resistance Alliance has many things in common with the Eighth Route Army troops in the occupied areas. However, the imperial troops have implemented a series of policies such as merging and establishing camps in the Northeast. In response to the Anti-Resistance Alliance, it took only a few years. By last winter, they had basically All the resistance forces were wiped out, which is a successful experience worth learning from."
"I've actually been thinking, why can't the series of methods used to deal with the Anti-Japanese Alliance be used against the Eighth Route Army? This might have a miraculous effect."
"In addition, our army has implemented cage tactics in North China for more than two years, and it will not be abandoned."
"Continue the blockade of the cage policy, and then merge villages into villages. Some isolated villages that are outside the county will be merged to a certain extent and managed in a unified manner, which will facilitate the concentration of our army's limited forces and achieve efficient control."
"In addition, we can also implement the Baojia and Sitting system in major villages. If one person colludes with the Eighth Route Army, the whole village will be punished; if one village colludes with the Eighth Route Army, all surrounding villages will be punished. This will prevent the Chinese people from secretly colluding with the Eighth Route Army."
"Those Chinese people are free labor force, which can be requisitioned to build blockhouses, build roads, and dig ditches. Road ditches are dug between villages to ensure that people and horses cannot pass, completely cutting off the connection between villages and cutting off the The connection between the villages and the Eighth Route Army base areas, in order to prevent these villages from communicating with each other, and secretly inform the Eighth Route Army.”
…
As Okamura Neji narrated, Shinozuka Yoshio became more and more amazed.
Only then did he realize that the new commander-in-chief seemed to be more capable than the previous commander-in-chief in dealing with the Eighth Route Army.
"Shinozuka-kun, in the past our army relied on gun tower strongholds. I heard that they were mainly used for defense?"
"Hey, our army has limited troops, so we use a small number of troops, with the cooperation of the Imperial Association Army, and rely on the fortifications of the artillery towers to block the Eighth Route Army, which has backward equipment and scarce ammunition. The initial effect is very good, and it can often cut off the base areas of the Eighth Route Army. contact."
"What now?"
Yoshio Shinozuka stopped talking. Now, the guerrilla areas of other Eighth Route Army units are not bad. The Independent Regiment, the New First Regiment and the New Second Regiment, the large and small strongholds on the periphery of the guerrilla area, the garrisons are basically forced by the Eighth Route Army. Don't dare to show your head while hiding in the stronghold.
Some isolated and remote gun towers and strongholds were directly uprooted by the Eighth Route Army.
Okamura Neiji said: "It's just a defense. The Eighth Route Army always has a way to deal with it. This is not the best policy. It can only be passively beaten. The breakthrough operation launched by the Eighth Route Army last year is proof."
"From now on, our army will switch from defense to offensive. Each stronghold will send troops to patrol along the roads and railway lines every day. In addition, troops will be assigned to enter the surrounding villages for inspection every day."
"Hi!" Yoshio Shinozuka responded, but said with some worry: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, if our army leaves the protection of the stronghold, it will be easily attacked by the Eighth Route Army troops."
Okamura Neiji said: "This tactic is based on the overall situation of the Eighth Route Army. I also know the situation in Shanxi where your First Army is located. After all, there are only a few units like the Eighth Route Army's Shanxi North Iron Triangle."
"After switching from defense to offensive, the general situation can cause great difficulties to the movement and assembly of the Eighth Route Army in the village."
"As for how to deal with the Eighth Route Army in northwest Shanxi, Mr. Shinozuka can flexibly adjust his tactics to target them."
"Hi!" Yoshio Shinozuka responded.
Okamura Neiji continued: "The Chinese art of war emphasizes knowing oneself and the enemy, and fighting a hundred battles without danger. I heard that the Eighth Route Army often studies the various tactics of our imperial troops."
"Right now, we have to deal with the Eighth Route Army, so we might as well study the tactics of the Eighth Route Army."
"For example, if the Eighth Route Army likes to avoid our firepower advantage and conduct night attacks, our army can also conduct night raids; if the Eighth Route Army likes to conduct disguised operations, our army can also set up a plainclothes team to wait for opportunities to deal with the Eighth Route Army's command organs."
On this point, Okamura Neji and Shinozuka Yoshio thought of it together.
Yoshio Shinozuka reported to Neji Okamura the plan of the Yamamoto special agent team and the advance team to penetrate the Eighth Route Base and wait for opportunities to carry out sabotage, sneak attacks, and beheading operations.
"円西!" Okamura Neiji expressed his approval, and then asked: "I also heard that the Eighth Route Army likes to create a two-faced government in the villages under the jurisdiction of our army?"
Yoshio Shinozuka responded: "Yes, the political attitude of those Imperial Alliance soldiers is not firm. After being bewitched by the Eighth Route Army, they will easily defect to serve the Eighth Route Army, and continue to fool us on the surface."
Okamura Neiji said: "Then we will strengthen internal investigations and encourage each other to report anonymously. In addition, we will deploy spies and agents to find out all the two-faced people who are secretly communicating with each other."
"Hi!" Yoshio Shinozuka responded.
Finally, Okamura Neiji explained the general goal on the phone:
"If you want to deal with the Eighth Route Army, you must first thoroughly understand the Eighth Route Army. Even learning from the Eighth Route Army is not a shame."
"To use the Eighth Route Army's consistent method, three points are military and seven points are political."
"From now on, we will adopt a gentle policy towards the villagers in the vast number of Chinese villages in the occupied areas."
"How to be gentle? We must do what the Eighth Route Army can do, and we must do it better. The Eighth Route Army helps the villagers clean their courtyards, and we also help the villagers clean their courtyards. The Eighth Route Army helps the villagers carry water, and we also send soldiers to help the villagers carry water. Water and the Eighth Route Army will send food to the villagers, and we can also send some condolence food to the Chinese people."
"In short, we must show absolute affinity to the villagers, and we must not use violence against those villagers who have not secretly passed through the eight routes."
"Coupled with the assistance of military force, kill chickens and respect monkeys, and resolutely attack and eliminate those unruly people and traitors who dare to secretly communicate with the Eighth Route Army, so as to compete with the Eighth Route Army and control the countryside, and completely seize the foundation for the Eighth Route Army's survival and development..."
"Hi!" Yoshio Shinozuka responded, and wrote down what Yoshio Shinozuka said in his own handwriting.
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