Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 97 Winning Ma

Taiyuan First Army Headquarters.

"Sir, all units have evacuated to designated locations as planned," reported Naosaburo Okabe.

"What are the casualties?" asked Katsuki Seiji.

"In this battle, except for the Sai Regiment which was ambushed and suffered more than 90% casualties, the rest of the troops did not suffer serious damage. Moreover, each unit successfully occupied several county towns as planned and completed the division of the northwest Shanxi region," said Naosaburo Okabe.

"Yoshi." Kazuki Seiji nodded.

Although this nine-way siege did not completely eliminate the hostile forces in northwestern Shanxi, the basic combat objectives had been achieved.

After occupying all the county towns and towns along the way in northwest Shanxi, the locust army can send out troops from the county towns to sweep the surrounding areas at any time.

Kiyoshi Kozuki believed that after a period of time, all the hostile forces in northwest Shanxi would be wiped out.

"Mr. Okabe, we need to step up the recruitment of the Locust Army. At the same time, we should persuade the local armed forces in Shanxi to surrender. As long as they are willing to join the Locust Army, we can negotiate both money and official positions." said Kozuki Seiji.

During the period of sweeping western Shanxi, Katsuki Seiji had already felt the shortage of military forces.

If they want to carry out a sweep of the county town next, they cannot rely solely on the Locust Army, as the First Army simply does not have that many troops to deploy.

Under such circumstances, vigorously developing the locust army is the only option.

"Hai!"

Two days later, after reading the newspaper published by the Japanese in Shanxi, Chen Chengxing threw it on the table with disdain.

"Old Chen, do the Japanese think they have won by occupying a few counties? They are underestimating our Eighth Route Army too much." Luo Ping said after reading the newspaper.

"The Japanese have always claimed to be a European power, thinking that fighting a war with China would be just like fighting in Europe. But you have to know that more than 90% of China's population lives in rural areas. Although it sounds like a win for the Japanese when they occupy towns, it actually has no big impact on us," said Chen Chengxing.

China is still an agricultural country and has not undergone industrialization and urbanization. Even if the Japanese occupied all the counties in Shanxi, it would not have much impact on the Eighth Route Army.

The Red Party has always followed the route of 'surrounding the cities from the countryside'. Whether the county town was occupied by the Red Party or the Japanese invaders did not have much impact on the Eighth Route Army.

The Japanese think they have won, so let them win. Sooner or later, the big slap of time will slap them in the face.

When the Japanese realized that they would be attacked if they left the city, they knew what it meant to be caught in a dilemma.

In response to the frequent raids by the Japanese, the Eighth Route Army also began to appear frequently around the county town.

The guerrilla units of the New Second Regiment also began to wage sparrow warfare and mine warfare around the county towns and villages.

The sound of gunfire never stopped throughout Shanxi. As long as the Japanese left the city, they would be attacked at any time.

However, compared with the stalemate in the battlefield behind enemy lines, the Japanese army's advancement on the front line was very smooth. They successively captured important towns such as Linfen and Changzhi, opened up the southern section of the Tongpu Railway, and also penetrated into southeastern Shanxi and the Liangshan mountainous area.

The Guo army on the front battlefield was defeated step by step and retreated all the way to the east bank of the Yellow River and the Zhongtiao Mountains and Wangwu Mountains.

In the meeting room of the Taiyuan First Army Headquarters, Kazuki Seiji looked at the marks on the map on the wall and said with satisfaction: "Yoshi. The Locust Army is still invincible."

Sure enough, the previous battles with the Eighth Route Army were only a few cases. On the front battlefield, the Locust Army was still invincible.

In Yan Xishan’s Second War Zone, when the Eighth Route Army was fighting the Japanese invaders fiercely, although there were no substantial actions, the slogans of counterattack were shouted loudly.

Today we attack Taiyuan, and tomorrow we have to drive the Japanese out of Shanxi and recover all lost territories. This has greatly irritated Kiyoshi Kozuki.

In order to counter Yan Xishan's counterattack plan, the Japanese North China Front Army also made a full-scale invasion plan for Shanxi.

The Japanese directly dispatched four divisions, sending troops from Taiyuan in Shanxi and Xingtai and Anyang in Hebei, preparing to drive all Chinese troops westward to the Yellow River to feed the fish.

Originally, Katsuki Seiji thought that this battle would be difficult to fight, but facing the attack of the locust army, both the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the Central Army lost the courage they had in the previous Battle of Xinkou.

Faced with the sharp edge of the Japanese army, these troops scattered like birds and beasts and retreated all the way.

The fleeing of the various Guo troops not only caused a large area of Shanxi territory to fall into the hands of the enemy, but also allowed the Japanese troops to directly threaten the security of northern Shaanxi.

After looking at the map for a while, Kazuki Seiji turned his head to look at the people sitting at the conference table and said:

"Gentlemen, North China has sent a telegram asking our First Army to cross the Yellow River and achieve a strategic breakthrough. What do you think?"

"Sir, only by crossing the Yellow River can our army take Xi'an and then advance into Hanzhong. This is crucial to forcing the Chongqing government to surrender," said Naosaburo Okabe.

Now the headquarters still hopes to force the Chongqing government to surrender, and then split China into several countries like Manchukuo, so that the empire can better gain benefits.

"Yes, I thought so too." Katsuki Seiji nodded.

"According to the instructions of the North China Front Army, the 108th Division and the 14th Division will attack Wei Junru's troops in the area of ​​Tiaoshan and Wangwushan from the north and south to prevent them from affecting our troops' crossing of the river."

"My idea is to have the 109th Division advance westward from Xiaoxian and Linxian to cross the river and then attack Suide in Shaanxi."

"The 20th Division will advance westward from Linfen, occupy Lu'an, and wait for an opportunity to cross the river and attack Yan'an."

"Also, when the 108th and 14th Divisions are attacking Wei Junru's troops, they can also send out a separate division to attack Tongguan."

"Do you have anything to add?" asked Kiyoshi Kozuki.

After the people below discussed in low voices for a while, someone asked, "Sir, whether it is Xiaoxian, Linxian or Lu'an, they are now occupied by the Eighth Route Army and the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. It may not be easy for the troops to cross the river from these places."

"I have thought about this matter. By then, the surrounding counties will need to dispatch troops to provide support. As long as the safety of the logistics roads can be guaranteed, there will be absolutely no problem." said Katsuki Seiji.

When large-scale troop operations are underway, logistical transportation is very important.

Xiangyue Qingji knew very well that the Eighth Route Army was active in Xiaoxian, Linxian, and Lu'an. However, as long as the transportation of materials could be guaranteed, there would be no problem for the locust army to cross the river and occupy Shaanxi.

After all, this was an offensive and defensive war, not a mopping-up war, let alone a guerrilla war. Whether it was the Eighth Route Army or the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, as long as they wanted to defend the Yellow River, they had to fight the locust army head-on.

And this is exactly what the Locust Army is good at. Only by fighting head-on can the Locust Army's firepower advantage be brought into play.

After discussing it again, everyone present felt that there was no big problem and spoke up to support Katsuki Seiji's plan.

After all, we are just crossing the river now. The real battle will not begin until we cross the Yellow River, and then we will have to reorganize our troops.

When it comes to attacking Xi'an, the entire North China Front Army will have to mobilize troops. This kind of super-large battle is not something that the First Army can do alone.

Seeing that no one had any objections, Katsuki Seiji nodded with satisfaction.

"Yoshi. That's settled then, Okabe-kun. The specific combat plan, troop strength and material deployment will be made by the General Staff in a detailed combat plan." said Katsuki Seiji.

Although this was just a battle involving two divisions, the preliminary preparations required were still very complicated.

"Hai!"

While the First Army was constantly mobilizing, the Eighth Route Army Headquarters also held a combat meeting.

"Now the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the Central Army are all fleeing in panic in the face of the Japanese attack. The Japanese army's offensive has actually threatened the security of northern Shaanxi."

"The Central Committee instructed us to mobilize the masses and establish bases behind enemy lines."

"And we must occupy the Liangshan Mountains before the Japanese army does. This is related to the security of northern Shaanxi."

After the boss finished explaining the current situation, he continued:
"The central government's instructions are that the 129th Division should consolidate the river defenses in the northern section of the Yellow River according to the established deployment."

"The 115th Brigade of the 344th Division will immediately move north and cooperate with the 343rd Brigade to eliminate the local enemy and ensure the retreat of friendly forces in southeastern and southwestern Shanxi."

"The 120th Division is located east of the Tongpu Road, blocking the enemy's attack on Tongguan."

Everyone present felt helpless when they heard that the Eighth Route Army not only had to prevent the Japanese army from further invading westwards and defend the Shaanxi-Gansu border area, but also had to clean up the mess of various friendly armies and cover their retreat.

The few main ace troops of the Guo army are good at fighting, but when it comes to these ragtag troops, it is really hard to describe.

But we cannot just ignore the Eighth Route Army, as Chiang Kai-shek will seize the opportunity to make a big fuss about it.

"Boss, I'm afraid it's not that easy to occupy this good mountain." said the Deputy Chief of General Staff.

The Japanese army wanted to cross the Yellow River to the west to attack northern Shaanxi. There were mainly two places where they could cross the river. One was Lijiachuan west of Xiaoxian County, and the other was the Yellow River ferry west of Lu'an.

When the Eighth Route Army entered Shanxi to fight the Japanese, they passed through the Yellow River ferry at Lu'an.

Both places are located west of the Liangshan Mountains, so as long as Liangshan is occupied, the security of the Shaanxi-Gansu Border Region government can basically be guaranteed.

But Yan Xishan was a notoriously stingy person. He wanted the Eighth Route Army to fight the Japanese for him, but he didn't want the Eighth Route Army to "occupy" his territory.

Before the Battle of Xinkou, because the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army occupied all the major cities and main transportation arteries in Shanxi, Yan Xishan did not oppose the Eighth Route Army's seizure of the enemy-occupied rural areas in the four corners of Shanxi, but of course he did not support it much either.

Later, as the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was defeated and the central government continued to negotiate, Yan Xishan finally reluctantly allocated 21 counties to the Eighth Route Army as a base.

However, these 21 counties do not include the southern range of Liangshan Mountain. The Eighth Route Army can only operate in the Shuitong County area at most. As for Lu'an and Ling County further west, the Eighth Route Army cannot easily set foot in them.

This presents the biggest problem.

The Japanese are now pressing forward step by step, and are about to cross the Yellow River to attack northern Shaanxi. But can we expect the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army to shoulder the responsibility of defending Yan'an?
This is obviously impossible.

This is not a matter of belief or not. The main thing is that his ability is really not enough. If Yan Laoxi had this ability, Shanxi would not have been lost.

"If we want to ensure the safety of northern Shaanxi, we must lead our troops to station in Lu'an and Lingxian areas and seize the Yellow River ferry. However, Yan Xishan will not allow the Eighth Route Army to operate in the territory of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. We are now in a dilemma." Master Liu on the side also spoke up.

"Haha, I've thought about this problem. If we want to not offend Yan Xishan and continue to advance westward legally, there is only one way. That is to wait until Lu'an and Lingxian are attacked by the Japanese. Then we can enter the area to fight the Japanese." The boss laughed.

This was also the reason why the 129th Division launched the Northwest Shanxi Campaign. Without this campaign, it would have been difficult for the 129th Division to expand its sphere of influence to the Yalu Mountains.

You should know that the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the Central Army have always been stationed in the Yalu Mountains. Even now there are still several regiments of troops entrenched in the Yalu Mountains.

The Eighth Route Army is still not allowed to operate in areas where the Guo army is entrenched.

Although the Eighth Route Army was dissatisfied with Guo’s army’s precautions, it could do nothing about it. After all, it had to put the overall situation first.

"Following the Japs is a good idea." Everyone nodded.

The Eighth Route Army can obey the orders of the Second War Zone and not overstep the line.

But the Japanese won't play by the rules. You've lost your territory, so can you not allow the Eighth Route Army to go to the occupied areas to fight the Japanese?
"The 115th Brigade of the 344th Division is currently operating in the Shuitong area, so let's give this task to them," said the boss.

"Okay, I'll send the message in a moment." The Deputy Chief of General Staff nodded.

Afterwards, everyone discussed the specific action plan, and it was not until noon that the discussion was completed.

Now they are just waiting for the Japanese to lead the way for them.

In early June, the 6th Division set out from Taiyuan, passed through Luyang and Anqiu, captured Xiaoxian, and then attacked the Lijiachuan ferry.

After occupying the Hedong position, the Japanese attempted to cross the Yellow River under the cover of artillery and aircraft.

(End of this chapter)