Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

Moreover, the Japanese soldiers who were responsible for escorting the prisoners of war also reported the situation in Datong when they were in Datong. Everything was safe in Datong, so Kuroda Shigenori was not worried about the defense of Datong now. In addition, another regiment would return to Datong today.

"That's good!"

Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko glanced at Kuroda Shigenori meaningfully. Kuroda Shigenori immediately understood and whispered, "Don't worry, Your Highness. The things are on the way."

Hearing this, the Japanese prince immediately walked into the First Army Headquarters with a smile. At this time, the headquarters had become a large cocktail party. Since the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese have been aligning everything with the West.

Whether it was a press conference or various meetings, they were all arranged in the form of a buffet. This time, in addition to announcing the victory of the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, medals were also awarded to the Japanese who had made meritorious contributions.

At this moment, an intelligence officer from the Special High Section entered the First Army Headquarters with a copied telegram. Seeing Prince Asaka Naruhiko surrounded by a group of reporters, he frowned.

But after taking a look at the copied contents of the telegram, he immediately gritted his teeth and walked over quickly.

"Your Highness the Prince!"

Prince Asaka Naruhiko smiled upon seeing the devil. "Let me introduce you all. This is Major Keita Yanoda, Chief of the Taigen Intelligence Section of the Special High Section. The Special High Section played an indispensable role in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, providing the Imperial Army with crucial intelligence that enabled them to defeat the enemy in such a short time."

After hearing this, many reporters took up their cameras and took pictures of Keita Yanoda.

After hearing this, Yanoda Keita forced a smile on his face, approached Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko and whispered, "Your Highness, I have important information to report to you."

Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko looked at Keita Yanoda, raised his eyebrows slightly, glanced at the file bag in his hand, and had a bad feeling in his heart. After all, if it was good news, Keita Yanoda would not be so nervous.

"Wait me a moment!"

Two minutes later, Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko came to Keita Yanoda and waved his hand to signal the people around him to step back and leave some space.

"Your Highness, this is the intelligence we just received from Shancheng!"

After saying this, Keita Yanoda gritted his teeth and handed over the copied telegram in his hand.

He could already foresee Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko's expression after seeing this telegram; he would definitely be furious.

"Hmm? Yamashiro?"

Prince Guizi frowned. If it was information from Yamashiro, it should have nothing to do with him. Although he had recently received good news about the victory in Zhongtiao Mountain, Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko still had a vague worry.

He also knew what he was worried about specifically, which was that there had been no definite news about Li Yunlong's Jin-Cha-Ji Independent Column and no activities. This made the Japanese prince quite worried. Since it was intelligence from the mountain city, it should have nothing to do with Li Yunlong or the First Army.

"Yes, please take a look!"

Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko opened the file bag and took out the contents.

The brows on his originally calm face first frowned, and his already pitifully small eyes instantly became only a slit. His breathing began to become rapid, as if he was trying to control his condition.

Keita Yanoda felt that Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko would be furious and angry.

But Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko simply threw the documents in his hand, opened his hands, drew an arc in the air and said: "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

……

……

……

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Chapter 217: Raising the price from the ground up

an hour ago.

After confirming that Li Yunlong had safely left Taiyuan, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Li Yunlong had withdrawn and the main force was also moving. Now many things no longer needed to be hidden.

"The higher-ups have agreed, but we can't give up our military achievements so easily. The highest bidder wins!"

"Old man, how much do you think they're willing to pay this time?"

The commander thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't think the price in Shancheng would be too high, but Yan Laoxi would definitely want it. After all, Datong was his territory before, and he had worked hard to build it up for many years. If he could get it back, it would help him improve his status in Jin Province."

"Hahaha, then let's send a telegram to Shancheng first to see the reaction, and then test this Commander Yan!"

"I think so too."

Soon the headquarters sent a telegram to the mountain city.

At this time, the atmosphere in the mountain city command center was very depressing. After the result of the Zhongtiao Mountain Battle was passed on to the mountain city, the atmosphere in the entire mountain city became weird.

Xiao Zhuge and others had just been scolded and were worried in their offices. There were some other generals in the room who also looked worried.

"Victory, victory, let's win a victory right away to boost the morale of the army and the people. If the Japs are really that easy to defeat, we'll..."

A general started to grumble, but when he saw Little Zhuge's eyes looking at him, he immediately shut up and said with a long sigh, "How the hell is this battle being fought? Even if we had 200,000 pigs, we couldn't be defeated so quickly!"

"Two hundred thousand pigs are more useful than them. Two hundred thousand pigs can at least give everyone a taste of meat. They are better, a little bit..."

"Stop harassing us! Just tell us what you think." Little Zhuge glanced at everyone and waved his hand. Now is not the time to complain, but how to solve the problem and how to satisfy the person who is angry.

"How about we think of a way to organize the army for another decisive battle similar to the Battle of Shanggao, General Xue?"

After the group of people finished speaking, they looked at a general, General Xue, who was dozing with his eyes closed.

Old Xue did not speak or open his eyes, but just pretended to be asleep. Compared with the group of generals present, General Xue was like a repairman, who would patch up wherever there was a need. He had no direct subordinates and no local armed forces to support him, so when there were no large-scale battles, he was idle most of the time.

In sharp contrast to General Xue are some troops that have been losing battles all the time. Because they control the territory and have a large number of troops, they dare not fight. In order to preserve their strength, they will retreat ten miles without even seeing the Japanese.

"Report, telegram from the Eighth Route Army."

"A telegram from the Eighth Route Army?"

Little Zhuge frowned, but still took the telegram. After reading the contents, he couldn't help but slam his head on the table: "What a fantasy! They want an entire army! They want full equipment and full pay, and they want the weapons, ammunition and pay that were stopped last year. They're just dreaming."

After hearing this, many people looked at Xiao Zhuge curiously, wanting to know what the content of the telegram sent by the Eighth Route Army was that made him so angry.

"Okay, you guys continue the discussion here, I'll go report."

Although Xiao Zhuge said that the Eighth Route Army was dreaming, this matter still needed to be reported. After all, there were some things he could not decide.

At about the same time, Kenanpo.

Commander Yan was also in a meeting at this time. When the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain began, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army wanted to cross the Yellow River to the east to regain some lost territories in Shanxi Province, but it failed. Not only did it lose thousands of troops, it was almost pursued by the Japanese and crossed the Yellow River.

If it were not for the heroic resistance of the troops guarding the Yellow River, this proactive attack might even have turned into a major defeat for the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, and Commander Yan might have to move from Kenanpo by now.

At this time, the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain had ended, the National Army was defeated, and the Japanese army was near Yuncheng, and could move south or east across the Yellow River at any time. Commander Yan had to be on high alert. If he could not defend the Yellow River crossing, Commander Yan could only continue to move west and live with the Ma brothers.

"The Nationalist Army suffered a defeat this time. All of their troops in Shanxi Province have been destroyed or have fled to the south bank of the Yellow River. With only our Jinsui Army, it will be extremely difficult for us to return to Shanxi Province!"

An officer of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army said with some emotion.

Most of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had already retreated to the west of the Yellow River, with only a few troops still operating in the Shanxi Province east of the Yellow River. Even Chu Yunfei's 358th Regiment had retreated to the west of the Yellow River.

After the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army suffered defeats in the Yuanping Campaign, the Xinkou Campaign, and the Taiyuan Campaign, although it still had many troops, Yan Laoxi was afraid of losing his small fortune and completely losing his status in the National Army, so he rarely engaged in head-on confrontations with the Japanese.

They occasionally engage in guerrilla warfare to prove their existence, but guerrilla warfare is a complete mess, often resulting in heavy casualties. Now some troops are even afraid to engage in guerrilla warfare.

"Furthermore, after this defeat, the people of Jin Province have completely lost their support. Life will probably be even more difficult in the future!"

Before, when Commander Yan retreated to Kenanpo, many passionate young people from Shanxi Province came to join the army. However, as the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was unable to cross the Yellow River, fewer and fewer people from Shanxi Province came to join Commander Yan. Moreover, the reason why Commander Yan was able to maintain such a large number of troops, in addition to the assistance from Shancheng, was that some people from Shanxi Province had been secretly supporting the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

Now that Zhongtiao Mountain had suffered a disastrous defeat, it was probably difficult for that group of speculators to support the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army as before. Moreover, the Eighth Route Army began to grow stronger in Shanxi Province, and most of the people in Shanxi began to turn around and support the Eighth Route Army.

Before the war began, Shanxi Province had a population of more than 10 million. These people were the backbone of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the source of its food and military pay. But now, as time goes by, apart from the name of Jin, the public sentiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army in Shanxi Province has basically fallen to the bottom.

"Then we must find a way to win a great and spectacular victory, boost morale, and tell the people that our Shanxi-Suiyuan Army has not given up on Shanxi Province!" Commander Yan thought for a while and came up with a solution.

The last time, we sent people to Ping'an County, took some photos, and publicized it in the newspapers, which led many people to join the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and also made Commander Yan see some benefits.

So the role now has changed a little bit. I hope to have some big victories to change people's hearts and minds and gain support.

"Sir, the main force of the Japanese is still in Shanxi Province. It would be unwise to mobilize our forces to engage in a decisive battle with them at this time. Moreover, the cities occupied by the Japanese are surrounded by numerous artillery towers and interconnected bunkers. It would be easy for them to detect our large-scale deployment and send reinforcements. If the situation becomes unfavorable..."

As soon as Commander Yan finished speaking, someone stood up to object.

Originally, there were some active pro-war members under Commander Yan, such as Xie Yisheng and others who had already defected to Li Yunlong. However, after Xie Yisheng and others were demoted, the pro-war members began to gradually become weak. Those who could sit in this meeting room were either conservatives or businessmen.

At this moment, a confidential secretary walked into the conference room and handed a telegram to Commander Yan.

"A telegram from the Eighth Route Army. What are they going to do?"

Ever since the incident of the 100,000 new recruits, the relationship between Commander Yan and the Eighth Route Army has not been very good. The main reason is that Commander Yan felt that the Eighth Route Army was digging into his corner by carrying out guerrilla warfare and establishing bases in Shanxi Province. If there were no Eighth Route Army, he would not have lost the support of the people of Shanxi Province.

After reading the contents of the telegram, Commander Yan handed it to the other Shanxi-Suiyuan Army officers in the conference room and said, "Take a look at it."

At this time, Commander Yan suppressed his anger. He regretted very much why he did not offer better conditions to recruit Li Yunlong. If Li Yunlong was a general under his command, would he need the Eighth Route Army to tell him about the capture of Datong?

I'm afraid I should have already started promoting the recovery of Datong.

"This, this is impossible, right?"

"Datong, are you kidding me? There's a whole division of Japanese troops there, and there are two or three more brigades nearby. If the Eighth Route Army wants to take Datong, they'll have to deploy at least 100,000 or even 200,000 troops. It's impossible for the Japanese to not know about such a large-scale military operation, and it's impossible for us not to know about it!"

Some generals and staff officers of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army couldn't help but speak after reading the contents of the telegram.

Are you kidding me? That's Datong. As someone from Shanxi Province, I know how important Datong is. It not only has a complete industrial complex, but also mines and railways. How could such a vital area be captured by the Eighth Route Army? And they did it so secretly? Absolutely impossible.

"Now is not the time to discuss truth or falsehood. Take a look at it for yourself. The Eighth Route Army's conditions are that we give them 20,000 rifles, 3 million rounds of ammunition, and various weapons and equipment in exchange for the credit for the recovery of Datong. What do you think? Is this a deal worth doing?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

Some people were smoking and some were whispering to each other.

The Eighth Route Army’s asking price was not low; these weapons and equipment could arm an entire army.

The Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had these weapons and ammunition, but using them to exchange for the reputation of conquering Datong was a huge loss no matter how one looked at it.

Just as Commander Yan and others were still thinking, another telegram came.

After reading the contents of the telegram, Commander Yan's face became even uglier.

Then he gritted his teeth and said, "Take a look at this telegram. The Eighth Route Army has raised the price. They said that the people in Shancheng have offered the same conditions. If we need it, we have to raise the price a little bit..."

"Can you still raise the price?"

"This is too much!"

"..."

While in the mountain city, when the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and its headquarters were exchanging telegrams, the news about the capture of Datong was obtained by the Japanese intelligence department and eventually delivered to Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko.

Chapter 218 The Japs Trying to Pass the Buck

In the headquarters of the Mengjiang garrison.

At this moment, Shigetaro Amakasu and Shigeki Takahashi were smoking with sad faces.