Taiyuan, the combat room of the 1st Army headquarters in Shanxi.

The huge sand table has been set up, and the two combat staff are carrying out the final finishing work.

The sand table shows the terrain of fifty kilometers in the radius of Daxia Bay, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.

The Chief of Staff of the 1st Army, Takayoshi Tanaka, stood directly in front of the sand table, looking at the masterpiece that the General Staff had spent two days and two nights building with satisfaction.

This sand table is a masterpiece.

Yoshio Shinozuka and Ichiki Yamamoto stood aside and talked softly.

Yoshio Shinozuka's expression was a little gloomy, and Yamamoto Kazuki also had a serious face.

Communications Section Chief Takuya Mizuhara and Operations Section Chief Takashi Sakamoto stood on the other side of the sand table, with a serious expression.

Only the intelligence department leader Yoshio Yashima leaned against the window and smoked silently, with a cold expression that was not related to his own affairs.

The atmosphere in the entire war room was a bit heavy, because Yamazaki Brigade had lost contact since he plunged into Taihang Mountain two days ago, and has not yet established communications again.

The two combat staff members were busy and whispering.

"Is this radio silence between Yamazaki Brigade?"

"It is a routine operation to enter behind enemy lines to implement radio silence."

"The problem is that the Eighth Route Army has no ability to carry out anti-telecommunication reconnaissance at all, and there is no need to implement radio silence."

"Regulations are regulations, they must be implemented, and they cannot be changed just because the enemy does not have anti-telecommunication capabilities."

"I always feel that something happened to Yamazaki Team, otherwise there would be no news for two days."

"I don't think so. Yamazaki's brigade is still an infantry brigade. Even if it is besieged by tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of people in the Eighth Route Army, it will not be impossible to send a telegram."

Listening to the two combat staff discussing there, Takaki Tanaka's face also collapsed.

"Enough." Tanaka Takaki said with a dark face, "What are you two muttering?"

"Hayi!" The two combat staff members paused, shut their mouths and did not dare to say anything more.

At this time, the sound of rapid footsteps suddenly rang out, and a communications officer hurried in.

"General!" The communications officer walked to Yoshio Shinozuka, held his feet in his arms, and handed over the folder in his hand, "Yamazaki Brigade's urgent telegram!"

Yoshio Shinozuka looked excited when he heard this, and finally there was news.

Tachiko Tanaka and the staff present were also very energetic.

Yoshio Shinozuka did not reach out to pick it up, waved his hand and said, "Remember!"

"Hayi!" The communications officer opened the folder and said, "The 1st Army Command: After two days and nights of hard marching, our Yamazaki army marched more than 200 kilometers and successfully arrived near Daxia Bay."

“However, there is a big fallacy in the map provided by the Intelligence Class.”

"Near Daxia Bay, there is a key pass called Yishitian."

"The map is not marked, which has led to the failure of our troops' surprise attack."

It seems that shirking responsibility is a basic operation for both the national army and Japan.

Although the map provided by the intelligence class is incorrect, the failure of the Yamazaki Brigade's surprise attack was not because of the map, but because the Yamazaki Brigade's ineffective combat.

But in this telegram from Yamazaki Brigade,

The intelligence class became the culprit for the failure of the surprise attack.

The intelligence department leader Shimaoyi's face immediately collapsed.

Can we blame this kind of thing? The map was not drawn by us.

Yoshio Shinozuka glanced at Yoshio Oshima coldly and said, "So read it down."

The communications consultant said again: "There is a key pass before blocking the road, and the Eighth Route Army pursued the troops again. Our Yamazaki army could only move to Lijiapo to defend it. Now, we have built solid fortifications with favorable terrain."

"If you stick to three days, you should have enough room for more than five days, and you can persist."

"The headquarters can calmly mobilize troops and implement anti-encirclement of the enemy."

"The Great Japanese Empire, onboard, His Majesty the Emperor, onboard!"

"On June 15, Showa 2015, Yamazaki's troops presented it!"

Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand to signal the communications officer to retreat, and said, "Where is Li Jiapo?"

Yoshio Oshima found Li Jiapo from the sand table as soon as possible and said to Yoshio Shinozuka: "Li Jiapo is here."

After seeing the terrain of Lijiapo, Yoshio Shinozuka finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Yoxi, the terrain of Lijiapo is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Yamazaki's vision is very accurate."

Yamamoto Kazuki also said: "At least from the sand table, the top of Lijiapo is a platform with a diameter of about 500 meters. If Yamazaki Brigade can build machine gun firepower on the slope top ridge, it can effectively avoid the direct firepower counter of the Eighth Route Army, then the chance of defending the position will be greatly increased, but I don't know if the map is accurate?"

"This..." Yoshio Oshima was a little embarrassed, but he did not dare to give a positive answer.

Yoshio Shinozuka said, "No matter whether the terrain of Lijiapo is as good as the sand table, I firmly believe that Yamazaki Brigade can defend the Lijiapo position for at least two days! Our time is enough!"

After saying this, he said: "Order the infantry 222, 225 and 237th regiments immediately launched a centripetal attack on Lijiapo from Taiyuan, Pingding and Han County!"

"Before tomorrow evening, you must rush to the periphery of Lijiapo,"

"Formed a counter-encirclement of the main force of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army outside Lijiapo!"

"In addition, report these situations to the North China Front Army Command, and the General is very concerned about this battle."

"Hayi!" Communications Section Chief Takuya Mizuhara paused and walked into the communication room with the manuscript he had just recorded, and went to shoot and send telegrams to the various corpses participating in the war and the North China Front Command.

...

Okamura Yasuji really cares about this battle.

Because this battle was fought according to Okamura Yasuji's intention, the entire battle concept was proposed by Okamura Yasuji, and the 1st Army was just an execution.

Therefore, no matter whether this battle wins or loses, it will be recorded in Okamura Yasuji.

As the saying goes, the new official took office, and the first fire after Okamura Yasuji took office was burned in southern Hebei. He ordered the 110th Cavalry Brigade to intercept a small army of the Eighth Route Army, but it turned out that it was a big deal.

And this time the Battle of Okamura Bay was the second fire burned by Okamura Yasuji.

If this fire is extinguished again, Okamura Yanji's face will not look good.

The 1st Army had no news for a long time, and Okamura Yanji was inevitably a little nervous.

When Miyano Dora saw that Okamura Yanji was a little worried, he smiled and comforted: "Your Highness General, don't worry. Yamazaki Brigade is the elite of the 4th Brigade, and we will never disappoint."

Before he finished speaking, a communications consultant hurried in.

He paused his head and reported: "Your Excellency General, the 1st Army stationed in Shanxi is urgently sent!"

As soon as Miyanoda received the telegram, he looked embarrassed.

This slap came too quickly. I just said that Yamazaki Brigade would not disappoint them, but as soon as the words were finished, Yamazaki Brigade's surprise attack ended in failure.

"how?"

Okamura Nishi asked with a frown: "Did Yamazaki's surprise attack fail?"

"Yes." Miyano Daoichi said a little embarrassedly, "Due to the fallacy of the map provided by the intelligence class, Yamazaki's brigade exposed its whereabouts in advance, which led to the failure of the surprise attack."

"Damn it!" Okamura Yanji's face also collapsed.

Did the surprise attack on the Eighth Route Army headquarters still fail?

However, Miyano Daoichi has a spirit of spitting on his face.

So Miyano Daoichi said again and again: "But there is no good news."

"The good news is that Yamazaki Brigade has built solid fortifications in Lijiapo, firmly attracting the main force of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army in Lijiapo."

"This creates an opportunity for the 1st Army to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Eighth Route Army."

Okamura Yanji said with a slight expression: "Does the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army really concentrates its forces to launch a siege on Yamazaki Brigade?"

"Yes." Miyano Dao, "As of now, the Eighth Route Army has concentrated at least three regiments and more troops, and more participating troops have gathered from all directions."

"The final battle force will definitely have more than ten regiments."

"Even if this is not the entire main force of the 129th Division, it is at least half."

"Yoxi." Okamura Yanji's expression was slower, and he said, "But you must move quickly. He told the 1st Army that the corps participating in the war must overcome all difficulties and meet with Yamazaki Brigade as soon as possible."

A good surprise attack turned into a fishing battle.

Since it's fishing, there's no need to do anything about bait.

"Hayi!" Miyano Dao suddenly paused.

...

Li Jiapo.

"Strange, why hasn't the Eighth Route Army moved yet?"

Yamazaki Orihei looked at the edges of the mountain in front of him, his eyebrows were furrowed.

Although the edges around the top of Lijia slope blocked the direct firepower of the Eighth Route Army, they also blocked the Japanese army's sight, making the Japanese army blind and could not see any movement down the slope.

So Yamazaki Orihei didn't know what the Eighth Route Army was doing under the slope.

The Eighth Route Army was delayed in launching an attack, and Yamazaki Orihei began to suspicion.

Isn’t the Eighth Route Army going to launch a strong attack? What other moves can the Eighth Route Army have besides a strong attack?

Then soon, Yamazaki Orihei knew the answer. The Eighth Route Army had a real trick, which was to dig forward with earthwork and shorten the distance from the slope top to the Japanese position.

The Eighth Route Army dug three tunnels and pushed forward in a zigzag shape.
To be continued...