"Report."
"The Shanchi Squadron escorting the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff to Li County was attacked by the Eighth Route Army on the road near Ping County. Captain Shan Chi urgently called for tactical guidance."
"Nani!"
"Order the First Infantry Group of the First Regiment, directly under the Cavalry Group, and the Patrol Armored Squadron to immediately reinforce."
When the telegram requesting reinforcements was delivered to the commander of the 29th Brigade, Kotani Matsubaraeda, he immediately dispatched a reinforcement brigade and a cavalry brigade—the only mobile force he had in hand—to reinforce.
The total strength is less than 1,200 people.
A chief of staff and deputy chief of staff with more than 70,000 troops were attacked, and the surrounding brigades stationed only sent this little reinforcement, which was really too meager.
But Kotani Matsuharada also had troubles that he couldn't express.
Since February this year, his 29th Brigade has been losing troops and generals.
The Liao County POW camp garrison squadron, the Hejin squadron, the Nishino squadron, and later the Liao County Beijing brigade, and the Shandao regiment were added up one after another, with a total loss of more than 5,000 troops!
It's a loss, not a casualty!
The supplement was only two thousand people.
The difference is three thousand!
In other words, the total strength of the 29th Brigade at this time was only more than 4,000, which was just the size of a fully-equipped infantry regiment.
Although there are two fewer counties that need defensive garrisons, and Yu County and Liao County are occupied by the Eighth Route Army, the area under his jurisdiction is the 386 Brigade, which has stronger light firepower than the Locust Army.
The defensive pressure has increased several times compared to before.
Being able to squeeze out 1,200 people is already pretty good.
Kotani Matsubarada also knew that the Eighth Route Army that dared to ambush the Locust Army squadron in Ping County, the hinterland of the Locust Army, must be strong, and he also contacted the Railway Patrol Armored Squadron to dispatch.
Arriving in Yangquan, Colonel Matsuzaki Naoto, the section chief of the agency directly under the Beiping Ping An, who was investigating the source of supplies for the Eighth Route Army, also followed.
What Kotani Matsuharada didn't expect was that,
When his cavalry brigade arrived at the battlefield at full speed, the battle was already over.
However, the brutality of the battlefield left the reinforcing Japanese cavalry brigade with lingering fears - there were bomb craters everywhere, dense and shocking, two armored vehicles were destroyed, the chief of staff and deputy chief of staff of the First Army were shattered, and the guarding Shanchi Squadron suffered heavy losses.
The corpses of the Locust Army and Tubal Road were intertwined. At a glance, there were no less than a hundred corpses, and most of them were the corpses of the Locust Army.
According to the report, the battle lasted only fifteen minutes.
····
"In this ambush, the Eighth Route Army's purpose was to attack and kill the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff."
Naoto Matsuzaki, who arrived later, inspected a circle of the battlefield and after questioning the surviving soldiers, he determined the combat purpose of the Eighth Route Army.
The Eighth Route Army ambushed the troops, suppressed the escort squadron with ferocious firepower, and then launched a group charge, heading straight for two armored vehicles, killing the two chiefs of staff, and then retreated immediately.
Not willing to fight.
So much so that the battle was over in just fifteen minutes.
This is also the reason why even with fierce fire suppression and absolute superiority in firepower, Tubal Road suffered relatively large casualties.
Therefore, it is clear at a glance that the purpose of this ambush on Tubal Road is to kill the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff of the First Army.
According to battlefield trace statistics, there are at least 700 craters on the battlefield, most of which are craters caused by 82 mortars, and a small part are craters caused by 60 mortars and grenade grenade craters.
This is also the fundamental reason why the two chiefs of staff are still broken even if the escort squadron fights to protect them.
The enemy firepower is really strong!
"There are only more than a hundred people on Tubal Road?"
The report on the follow-up battle of the escort squadron made Matsuzaki Naoto feel that something was wrong.
During the ambush battle, the Eighth Route Army fired more than four hundred rounds of 82 mortar shells. Each shell weighed three kilograms, plus propellant, boxes, and more than 300 rounds of 60 mortar shells.
The artillery baggage weight is close to two tons.
More than a hundred people carried nearly two tons of artillery shells, and there were no horse hoof prints around them, indicating that without the assistance of a large number of mules and horses, the mobility would not be very high, and it would be almost impossible to march long distances.
The battle took place at the boundary of Ping County, only ten kilometers away from the Zhengtai Line. Even including the assembly time, reinforcements from the brigade's cavalry brigade could arrive in just forty minutes.
Moreover, this is on a main road, and patrol teams will patrol the surrounding area regularly. Especially when senior officers pass by, the frequency of patrols will be doubled.
Even if the subordinates are perfunctory, the patrols on the highway will not be reduced. Basically, a patrol team will pass every hour during the day.
There are no suitable hiding positions in the surrounding area.
It shows that the Tubal Road ambush force avoided the patrol team when the convoy was about to arrive, and temporarily arrived on both sides of the road to ambush.
It is a quick ambush battle.
A quick ambush requires sufficient and accurate intelligence.
The Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff of the First Army arrived in Yangquan. The news was only sent out from Taiyuan Headquarters yesterday morning. This news was not kept secret. It is not surprising that Tubal Road knew about it.
But the specific route is chosen by the escort squadron.
There are many roads around Ping County.
How does Tubalu know exactly the route the team takes?
Is there a spy in the convoy?
Or.
The Eighth Route Army has been sending people to track and locate the convoy, and then notify?
That’s not right either!
Most of the escort squadron was in trucks, and the rest were cavalry. They were marching very fast, more than ten kilometers per hour. Even if Tubal Road was followed by cavalry, it would be impossible to deliver the message in time.
Matsuzaki Naoto was puzzled.
···
But on the other side.
The battalion commander of the 16th Regiment was beaming.
With the fire support of the headquarters artillery platoon, the ambush of the Japanese convoy was completed in just fifteen minutes, killing two Japanese chiefs of staff and earning three million silver dollars.
No,
That's three million silver dollars per month.
And the casualties were not large.
Seventeen were killed and twenty-five were injured.
The casualties were much smaller than expected.
"The walkie-talkie is a good thing!"
Glancing at the walkie-talkie carried by the correspondent behind him, the battalion commander felt happy.
Although in this battle, the headquarters' reinforced artillery platoon's four 82 mortars and an excess of 500 rounds of 82 mortar shells were the key to a quick victory.
But the fundamental reason for successfully killing the two Japanese chiefs of staff was the newly equipped army's walkie-talkies, which used portable whip antennas and had a communication range of more than 20 kilometers.
Relying on cavalry scouts and walkie-talkies, he could always locate the Japanese convoy and complete this quick ambush.
otherwise,
Even if it comes to a headquarters artillery company or even an artillery battalion,
It was no use finding the location of the Japanese convoy.
"Report to headquarters."
After arriving at a safe location, the first battalion commander immediately prepared to report the victory news to the headquarters.
Following the order of the battalion commander, a communications soldier took out the reinforced antenna that had been hidden in advance. After setting it up, he adjusted the frequency and started reporting to the headquarters.
···
"Ha ha··"
“The lack of funds has been resolved.”
"The economic combat plan for the southern Hebei base area can continue."
Five minutes later, at the headquarters, the deputy general staff officer who learned the news rushed into the headquarters immediately and reported to the deputy boss.
"good!"
The vice president was overjoyed and issued a series of orders:
"Immediately contact the comrades in the southern Hebei base area and let them start working."
"besides."
“Didn’t the underground party comrades in Beiping find a way to purchase steel pipe extruders, stamping machines, and generators?”
"Let them buy freely."
"It doesn't matter if the price is a little higher. We can even take the initiative to raise the price to give merchants a little sweetness and let them know that they can make money by cooperating with us, so that we can buy better things."
"To build an arsenal, we also need welding equipment and small steel-making equipment, which can only be purchased from abroad."
"Anyway..."
"In the future, if the army's funds are insufficient, we will kill a few Japanese chiefs of staff to earn some."
"Anyone who applies for funds will be approved as long as there is no deliberate waste or corruption, but corruption must also be strictly investigated. Didn't the Independent Group summarize a fund use specification?"
"Start promoting it in all base areas."
In line with the principle of gathering what can be gathered as hard as possible, and on the grounds of preventing waste, Captain Li asked the auditors sent by the system boss to prepare a fund use management regulations based on the local conditions.
Produced by the system, no need to doubt.
Although this regulation cannot eliminate corruption, it also greatly curbs waste, deters the occurrence of corruption, and can detect corruption of funds in a timely manner to avoid the expansion of the problem.
After local testing at the headquarters, it was found that the effect was excellent and was used directly.
"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away."
The Deputy General Staff immediately arranged for execution.
···
In contrast, the Eighth Route Army headquarters was filled with joy.
Inside the First Army Headquarters, it was like mourning for a heir.
"idiot."
"Can someone give me an explanation?"
"Why did the chief of staff and deputy chief of staff of our First Army fall into pieces again in Yangquan?"
"besides."
"Why did Tubal Road suddenly launch an attack on the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff of the First Army?"
He called Yamamoto Kazuki, the head of intelligence of the First Army, and a group of intelligence officers under his command, and then called Matsubarada Kotani, the commander of the 29th Brigade in Yangquan.
Yoshio Shinozuka couldn't help but curse.
The katana in his hand seemed to have the urge to unsheath again.
"General."
After being silent for a while, Yamamoto Kazuki spoke:
"Please allow me to go to Yangquan to investigate."
Telegraphs and telephones can transmit limited information, but as a special warfare expert, Yamamoto also discovered Matsuzaki Naoto's doubts.
And he also had direct guesses.
This quick ambush seems to prove that Tubalu has very powerful real-time communication capabilities, much better than even the Imperial Locust Army.
"good."
Yoshio Shinozuka nodded.
The attitude of Yamamoto, a hard-working person, also suppressed his anger a lot.
"Major General Otani Matsu."
Yoshio Shinozuka picked up the phone in his hand and said to the leader of the 29th Brigade with a harsh tone:
"You must fully cooperate with Colonel Yamamoto's investigation."
Yamamoto Kazuki himself was only a colonel, and his interpersonal relationships were very poor. When he arrived at Yangquan, he would definitely be suppressed by Kotani Matsubaraeda, so Shinozuka Yoshio specially warned Kotani Matsubaraeda.
"Hi!"
Cold sweat dripped from Kotani Matsubarada's forehead.
The chief of staff and deputy chief of staff were attacked twice in succession in his jurisdiction. General Shinozuka is probably fine, as he has a strong background, but as a major general, he may not be able to withstand it.
(End of chapter)
