Chapter 139 Preparing for Fishing After listening to what the brigade commander said, Qin Yangming immediately sent someone to notify Li Erhu who was preparing to provide artillery coverage. Since the headquarters has agreed to implement the plan of closing the door and beating the dog against the 4th Brigade, the Yamazaki Battalion cannot be eliminated so quickly. Now the Yamazaki Battalion is just a bait to catch the big fish, the 4th Brigade. If the speed of elimination is too fast, without the Yamazaki Battalion as bait, the 4th Brigade will definitely not take the bait. If we kill them too slowly, the 4th Brigade will take the bait and escape. After all, if a brigade of Japanese soldiers wanted to retreat wholeheartedly, it would be difficult to stop them with the military strength of Shiquan County. What's more, there are two brigades rushing towards Shiquan County and Linyuan County. If the 4th Brigade retreated with all its might, with the two brigades supporting them outside, they would not be able to be stopped by the blockade line of Linyuan County and Shiquan County. Therefore, the speed of destroying the Yamazaki Battalion cannot be too fast, so that the Japanese 4th Brigade can take the bait. It also cannot be eliminated too slowly, otherwise the bait may be eaten by the Fourth Brigade and then get off the hook and escape.
At the same time, we had to strengthen the defense of Hegu Town to make the Japanese believe that the Eighth Route Army Headquarters Arsenal was in Hegu Town. The arsenal in the ancient town is equivalent to a fishing nest. If you want to attract the 4th Brigade, you can't rely solely on the Yamazaki Battalion as a small bait. After all, the 4th Brigade is a big fish, and Yoshio Shinozuka's main purpose of mobilizing three brigades is definitely not to rescue the Yamazaki Battalion. The ultimate goal was definitely to cooperate with the Yamazaki Battalion to break through the Eighth Route Army's defense line, then destroy the Eighth Route Army's arsenal, occupy Shiquan County and Linyuan County at the same time, and open a breakthrough in the Shangdang area again. "Brigade Commander, when do you think it would be best to eliminate the Yamazaki Battalion?" Qin Yangming couldn't grasp the specific opportunity. He was worried that if he didn't grasp the opportunity well and eliminated the Yamazaki Battalion ahead of time or a little bit late, it would affect the brigade commander's plan of closing the door and fighting the dog, which would be difficult to implement. With such a big piece of fat meat, Li Yunlong must be trying every means to swallow it. If this piece of fat meat slipped away from Li Yunlong's mouth due to my fault, who knows how much equipment Li Yunlong would use this as an excuse to borrow from me. "Wait for the 771st Regiment to let in the Japanese Fourth Brigade first. Preliminary estimates show that if the 771st Regiment's frontline sniper troops take turns to cover the retreat and then let in the Japanese, it will take about six hours. If there is no other order after six hours, you will launch an attack and wipe out the Yamazaki Battalion as quickly as possible. I'm calculating based on the three hours it will take you to annihilate the Yamazaki Battalion. So the 4th Brigade will probably reach the designated ambush location, Yuxi Town, within these three hours. The independent regiment has already gone to Tongshi Town to deploy defenses. After you deal with the Yamazaki Battalion, immediately lead the vanguard regiment to Tongshi Town and launch an attack on the 4th Brigade from the right. The 772nd Regiment will go around and cut off the Japanese's retreat route. By then, the 4th Brigade will be surrounded by us in an open area, and they will be the meat in our pot! Qin Yangming, remember this, you must wipe out the Yamazaki Battalion in three hours, at most three hours, and then get to Tongshi Town within two hours, otherwise the Japanese devils from the 4th Brigade will be able to go directly to Baihu Ridge through Tongshi Town! Our marching speed is not as fast as that of the Japanese. If the Japanese knew that the headquarters was at Baihuling, they would definitely order the other two brigades to attack Linyuan County at all costs. Ding Wei's New 1st Regiment might not be able to withstand the attacks of the two brigades. If the three Japanese brigades all reached Baihu Ridge, it would be like sending the headquarters to the edge of the cliff. Although Baihu Ridge is very safe, the headquarters must not take risks! If any of the leaders of the headquarters were to be harmed, neither you nor I could bear the responsibility!" "Brigade Commander, rest assured. I have a military order. If I fail to deal with the Yamazaki Battalion within three hours and reach Tongshi Town within two hours, you can shoot me!" Qin Yangming made a solemn promise to the brigade commander.
"Remember, if you can't take down the Yamazaki Battalion within two hours, you must report it in time. If it really doesn't work, give up on the big fish that is the 4th Brigade." After saying this, the brigade commander hung up the phone. He was also worried. The Vanguard Regiment now had nearly 3,000 people, half of whom were new recruits. It would be quite difficult to wipe out the Yamazaki Battalion in three hours, especially since the Vanguard Regiment had to delay the Yamazaki Battalion for six hours. During these six hours, the Vanguard Regiment was not to directly guard the foot of the mountain and prevent the Yamazaki Battalion from breaking out, but to launch a real attack. Otherwise, when the Japanese saw that the Eighth Route Army was only surrounding the Yamazaki Battalion but not attacking it, even a fool could tell that the Yamazaki Battalion was just a toddler and that the army was trying to lure more Japanese into the trap. If the attack is too strong but the Yamazaki Battalion cannot be captured, the Japanese will also know that the Yamazaki Battalion has become a bait. Otherwise, you clearly have the ability to quickly take down the Yamazaki Battalion, but you don't do it. Aren't you using the Yamazaki Battalion as bait? However, if the attack is not strong enough, the Yamazaki Battalion may think that the Eighth Route Army here is not strong enough, so they will lead the troops to attack Heguzhen. However, we could not really allow the Yamazaki Battalion's Japanese to attack the ancient town. If we blocked them at that time, our strength would be exposed and the Japanese would still be able to see that this was a trap. The firepower of the attack was not strong enough, so once I broke through, your firepower increased. Aren’t you just trying to trap the Yamazaki Battalion on the mountain? Therefore, the offensive intensity of the vanguard regiment needs to be maintained within a certain range. Since the Yamazaki Battalion feels that its strength is strong enough, the Eighth Route Army cannot take over the cave position on the top of the mountain. But at the same time, the Yamazaki Battalion did not have enough strength to break through the Eighth Route Army's blockade and could only hold the hillside and wait for reinforcements. Qin Yangming is also very distressed now. If he is asked to speed up and eliminate the Yamazaki Battalion, he can do it. But if you ask Qin Yangming to follow the brigade commander's instructions and find ways to delay the Yamazaki Battalion, he will have no good idea. If we follow the example of the blind man in the original book and command the troops to pile up company after company, then we are just wasting time at the cost of the soldier's life. Qin Yangming would never do such a thing. He would rather give up the big piece of fat meat, the 4th Brigade, than risk the lives of the soldiers to delay time. "How about trying Li Yunlong's method?" Qin Yangming recalled the method that Li Yunlong used in the original novel to deal with the Yamazaki Battalion of the Japanese devils, and wondered whether the method was feasible. "Earthwork can indeed take up a lot of time, but how can we make the Japanese realize that we are not stalling for time, but really want to eliminate them as quickly as possible?" (End of this chapter)