Chapter 172 If you can’t deal with the Fourth Brigade, then all four of you come to the brigade headquarters and feed the horses! While Kasahara Koizumi was speculating on the real purpose of the Eighth Route Army, some Japanese soldiers in the regiment also began to carry out a sweep in units of squads or teams with Tongshi Town as the center. This kind of raid by the Japanese devils can almost be said to be a tradition. Whenever the troops arrive at a place, they will definitely sweep the surrounding area. On the one hand, it is to explore the nearby terrain and other conditions. On the one hand, it is to explore and see if there are any enemy ambushes nearby. After all, the army is stationed in camp. If there happen to be a large number of enemy troops lying in ambush nearby and they suddenly launch a surprise attack in the middle of the night, they will be doomed. Especially in this era of hot weapons. If the Eighth Route Army set up an artillery position a few kilometers away from the Japanese camp, and then launched an artillery attack on the camp when the Japanese began to rest, that would be a lot of fun. The main camp was suddenly attacked, and then a large force attacked in coordination... If the guard posts had not notified us in advance, we would have basically prepared to surrender. Therefore, in addition to the above two reasons, the Japanese sent out mopping-up troops also to serve as guard posts for the large troops in the areas responsible for the mopping-up.
Generally speaking, the troops will be placed within one to two kilometers away from the main force. In this way, if there is a large enemy force, the guard post can easily discover it and give a warning. If it was just a small force, it would not be able to cause any damage to the camp. After all, there were patrol teams outside the camp and soldiers on guard inside. Being responsible for a sweep is a relatively dangerous task. After all, when going out on a raid, no one knows whether they will encounter the enemy or suddenly step on a landmine. It is definitely not as safe to go out on a raid as to stay in the base. But even so, most of the Japanese were still willing to take on the mopping-up mission. The reason is simple. Although going out for a raid is a little dangerous, the rewards are also considerable. For example, during a raid they would rob villagers of their belongings and food. Especially in this kind of flat area carved out by the river, the soil is fertile, which means that the nearby villagers will definitely be rich. If the nearby villagers are very poor, then there must be a big landowner nearby. Moreover, unless there are a lot of supplies, the supplies obtained during the raid basically belong exclusively to the raiding troops. Therefore, the Japanese were very keen on raids, not only to earn money but also to improve their food, especially when catching chickens and cows during raids. Although the Japanese had relatively complete logistical supplies, the daily meals for the troops of the 4th Brigade stationed in the rear were only passable. Especially for ordinary Japanese soldiers, it was good enough to eat some meat every three or four days. Most of the supplies were basically supplied to the troops on the front line. But as long as it is a mopping-up operation, a large amount of meat can be obtained as a supplement. How can this not attract the Japanese's desire? After all, most of the Japanese soldiers might not even have enough food to eat before joining the army, let alone meat. …… "Baga, the Eighth Route Army is clearing the countryside! They don't want us to get enough supplies near Tongshi Town!" Kasahara Koizumi looked at the reports submitted by the mopping-up troops and the logistics squadron and became so angry that he started cursing.
First, the logistics squadron reported that the soldiers they sent out to the river to fetch water were either killed by landmines at the water point or shot dead by Eighth Route Army snipers on the other side of the river. And when the logistics squadron was collecting fuel, they found that all the trees near Tongshi Town had been cut down and burned by the Eighth Route Army. If you want to demolish houses to get fuel, you need to enter Tongshi Town, but everyone knows what the situation is like inside Tongshi Town. So the logistics squadron asked Kasahara Koizumi to see if they could use fuel oil as fuel to cook. The troops responsible for the mopping-up operation reported that all civilians in the nearby villages had been relocated by the Eighth Route Army, and not even a single grain of food was found in any of the villages, let alone a chicken. And all the wells in the villages were blocked. Moreover, there were ambushes of the Eighth Route Army in every village, and the troops responsible for the mopping-up suffered heavy losses. Shinichi Kikuchi, who was standing by, looked at the report that Kasahara Koizumi had put down, and said to him, "Your Excellency, the commander of the regiment, the Eighth Route Army is now clearing the countryside. They don't want us to get any supplies near Tongshi Town. It seems that they are planning to ambush our Fourth Brigade again in Tongshi Town. I'm afraid there won't be any peace tonight." "Humph!" Kasahara Koizumi listened to what Kikuchi Shinichi said, snorted coldly and spoke to Kikuchi Shinichi with disdain on his face. "They ambushed our Fourth Brigade in Tongshi Town. I want to see how many troops the Eighth Route Army has here. Do they really think our Fourth Brigade is the Kimura Brigade? Order the troops to be on alert, and the rest will be decided after the brigade commander arrives." "Hey!" …… White Tiger Ridge. After Qin Yangming and the brigade commander left the general, they did not separate but returned to the brigade headquarters. The boss has made it clear that Qin Yangming's plan can only begin after this combat mission is completed. Then the brigade commander naturally needs to start arranging combat tasks and prepare to launch an attack on the 4th Brigade. The main force responsible for the attack on Baihu Ridge was Qin Yangming's vanguard regiment. When the brigade commander saw that Qin Yangming made such a bold and effective suggestion, he directly brought Qin Yangming to the brigade headquarters. He planned to let Qin Yangming listen to his battle plan and see if Qin Yangming had any creative suggestions. "Come, Xiao Qin, come and take a look at the sand table first, and then I'll tell you about the enemy and our troops now." After the brigade commander and Qin Yangming returned to the brigade headquarters, the brigade commander went straight to the point and took Qin Yangming into the operations room. He pointed at the two large sand tables placed in the operations room and spoke to Qin Yangming. The sand tables placed in the operations room are actually the sand tables of the two counties of Linyuan County and Shiquan County, except that the sand table of Linyuan County is more detailed. On the sand table of Shiquan County, except for the area close to Linyuan County, which is relatively detailed, other places are relatively rough. There are obvious signs of rushing the work.
The two sand tables were simply and roughly spliced together to form a large sand table. When the brigade commander saw Qin Yangming looking at the sand table in the operations room, he spoke somewhat embarrassedly. "There's nothing we can do. The sand table of Linyuan County was made by you, and the brigade headquarters has a backup of all the information. The sand table of Shiquan County was simply a replica of the Japanese sand table. I'm not as sophisticated as you, so I'll just have to make do with it." "Let me first tell you about the situation of our troops." The brigade commander picked up a straight bamboo stick from the side of the sand table and pointed at a city model representing Linyuan County on the sand table and spoke. "I have mobilized the First Column of the Taiyue Military Region in Linyuan County, which consists of three regiments of main forces, plus the columns' subordinate units, totaling 13,000 people. The main task of the First Column was to defend against the Japanese Ninth Brigade. Because there are few places suitable for ambushes in Linyuan County, we can only rely on a large number of troops to use various towns and strongholds to block the Japanese at every level. I have issued a death order to the First Column, to hold off the Japanese for at least 48 hours on the first four lines of defense!" "Then we will hold on to Linyuan County. Linyuan County will also have to hold off the Japanese for at least 24 hours." "Seventy-two hours in total, or three days. If you can't defeat the Fourth Brigade in three days, then you can only rely on the two strategic locations of Cangyun Ridge and Baihu Ridge to resist the Ninth Brigade of the Japanese. But I hope that Baihu Ridge will not become a frontline defense position! At least not in this battle." "Commander, I understand what you mean." Qin Yangming listened to what the brigade commander said and nodded, indicating that he understood what the brigade commander meant. The brigade commander's meaning was very clear. The Eighth Route Army's headquarters was now located in Baihu Ridge. If anything went wrong in Baihu Ridge, even if the 4th Brigade was captured by then, it would not be able to make up for the Eighth Route Army's losses. Although the defense of Baihu Ridge was very strong, the possibility of the Japanese 9th Brigade breaking through the defensive positions of Baihu Ridge was very small. But don’t be afraid of ten thousand in everything, just be afraid of the unexpected. Thinking of this, Qin Yangming first raised his hand to indicate that he wanted to speak, temporarily interrupting the brigade commander's words, and then said: "Brigade commander, if there is any problem, you and the boss must retreat from the tunnel to Hegu Town as soon as possible. Only in this way can we fight the Japanese with all our strength. Otherwise, the boss is at the front line, and we military commanders who know the news would not dare to fight the Japanese with all our strength. Brigade Commander, I will leave the assault platoon to you when the time comes. If things become impossible, just kidnap the boss and take him away. If you are afraid of being scolded, just say it was an order from me." Later on, Qin Yangming played a rare little joke on the brigade commander. The brigade commander listened to Qin Yangming's words and nodded affirmatively. “Don’t worry about this, I will never let the boss be exposed to the enemy’s fire. If the Japanese troops really break through the defensive positions of Linyuan County, and you haven't destroyed the 4th Brigade yet, Then I will immediately have your assault platoon follow your orders and kidnap the boss." Qin Yangming felt something was wrong when he heard what the brigade commander said, but he didn't react for a while.
Without waiting for Qin Yangming to carefully recall what the brigade commander had said, the brigade commander continued to introduce to Qin Yangming the deployment of troops in various regions. "Because the terrain in Shiquan County is relatively complex, ambush points can be set up in many areas for blocking operations. Therefore, the two main regiments, the 771st and 772nd Regiments, were responsible for blocking the Japanese 11th Brigade in Shiquan County, plus the county battalions and district squads of Linyuan County and Shiquan County, as well as the new recruits regiment of our brigade. The total force is about 10,000. The order I gave them was also to hold on for three days, and within three days, absolutely not allow the Japanese to break through the Shiquan County defense position to rescue the Japanese Fourth Brigade. If the situation changes, the division commander in the Taihang Military Region will mobilize troops for support, but in that case, we will have to temporarily abandon the base in the Ping'an County area." “The four regiments responsible for besieging the Fourth Brigade were mainly the New 1st Regiment, the New 2nd Regiment, the Independent Regiment, and the Vanguard Regiment. The New 1st Regiment has more than 5,000 soldiers, all of whom are veterans, while the Independent Regiment has more than 4,000 soldiers, more than half of whom are veterans. As for the independent regiment, there are 1,500 people, only 300 of whom are veterans, and the vast majority are directly recruited from the new regiment and district squads. As for your vanguard regiment, the total strength is 3,600 people, of which 2,000 are veterans, and the other 1,600 are outstanding soldiers selected from various county brigades. When the time comes, the headquarters' heavy artillery regiment and the headquarters' tank company will temporarily reinforce you. Then there are two regiments of the Second Column of the Taiyue Military Region, a new regiment of the military region, and other troops on the Baihu Ridge, a total of 8,000 people, of which 4,000 can serve as a reserve force to provide support to various places. " "According to intelligence, the total number of the Japanese Fourth Brigade is approximately 8,000 to 9,000 people. The total number of our attacking forces is approximately 16,000. Our military strength is almost twice that of the Japanese 4th Brigade. As for equipment, except for the lack of aircraft, our other equipment is no worse than that of the Japanese. In three days, with the same weapons and equipment, your number of people is twice that of the Japanese 4th Brigade. If this is the case, you will not be able to defeat the 4th Brigade. Do you still need me to mobilize the reserve troops to clean up the mess for you four commanders? hum. So after this battle is over, my brigade will be in need of someone to feed the horses, someone to carry the pot, someone to make the fire, and someone to chop wood. If you are not able to take down the 4th Brigade, then each of you four regiment commanders should choose a position. Even if you can't fight, you should at least be able to carry the blame, feed the horses, make the fire, and chop wood. Especially you, Qin Yangming, I think your physique is quite suitable for chopping wood. You are so strong that it may take others three axes to chop down a tree, but you may be able to chop down a tree with just one axe. Oh, if you look at it this way, maybe you four don't have to divide the work. Kong Jie can feed the horses, Li Yunlong used to be the one who carried the big pot in the kitchen, and you are suitable for chopping wood, so Ding Wei can just make the fire." Listening to what the brigade commander said, Qin Yangming quickly made his assurance. "Brigade Commander, don't worry. I will pass on the message to Captain Li and his men. I guarantee that the Japanese Fourth Brigade will be eliminated within three days!" The brigade commander's request was actually not too excessive. With the four main regiments having the advantage of time, place and people, they still launched a surprise attack on the Japanese 4th Brigade. Especially since their number of people is twice that of the Japanese, and their equipment is no worse than theirs. If they still cannot defeat the Japanese 4th Brigade within three days, then the four of them will have no need to command the troops. After seeing Qin Yangming's guarantee, the brigade commander nodded and then asked Qin Yangming. "How about it? If I let you take over my position and command this battle, what do you think?"
Qin Yangming blinked as he listened to the brigade commander's words. "No, Brigade Commander, how can I possibly command a force of 40,000 to 50,000 people? You should ask the general about this. Forty to fifty thousand people is a whole army..." (End of this chapter)