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Jiang Feng was also very angry: "Commander Yan is one of the only first-class generals in the Tang Dynasty. He has been in the army for decades. We have reminded him to strengthen the defense to prevent being surrounded by the devils. Now, not only have we lost so much territory, but the southwest Shanxi passage that we worked so hard to open has been blocked by the devils. Our 88th Army has become an isolated army!"

Lu Shiyu kept silent. Wei Junjun had just gotten up from bed, still in his pajamas. After hearing about the battle, his face flushed red.

This is annoying!

With 20 troops, they can hold off the Japs for a day if they put up some resistance.

The fact is that many positions were lost in just a few hours.

Commander Yan's troops' actions can be said to be cowardly, just like Commander Han of Lu Province did at the beginning.

However, the troops in Hejin held on to their resistance, so it was not right to say that Commander Yan was afraid of fighting!

She decided to send a telegram to Shancheng after daybreak to report Commander Yan. However, her current military identity had been suspended and she had almost no power, so her report was destined to sink into the sea and not stir up any waves.

Xu Le calmed down and said, "Forget it, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have given him the task of guarding Hejin. But fortunately, we took down Queshu Valley and cut off all the retreat routes of these devils.

Now I finally understood why Huo County had three divisions, but there were far fewer people after the battle. It turned out that they were all secretly deployed to the vicinity of Linfen.

I have always been worried about the heavy artillery brigade, but it turns out that they were not used to deal with us, but to open up southwest Shanxi."

Jiang Feng continued, "But now the Queshu Valley has been completely occupied by our army. No matter how hard the Japanese fight, they can't stay in southwest Shanxi for a long time. The terrain in southeast Shanxi is dangerous, and the logistics there can't be transported in large quantities. Even the logistics there are restricted. Why would the Japanese go to such great lengths to fight this battle?"

Others couldn't guess what was going on, but Xu Le seemed to have guessed why the Japanese did this.

"The original intention of the Japanese was to destroy the Tang army, including our 88th Army, but because our army's combat effectiveness far exceeded the Japanese's expectations, their encirclement plan could not be completed.

There is only one explanation for continuing the action. The devils are trying to attract everyone's attention. They have bigger plans elsewhere!"

This is what Xu Le thought. There was less than a month left before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

He didn't know whether this world would develop along the same trajectory as the original world, but this was all he could think of.

Xu Le continued: "If my prediction is correct, the Japs will soon withdraw from southwestern Shanxi."

"Why?" Wei Junjun asked.

Xu Le did not answer, but turned and left. Now he didn't know what to do. All he could do was to guard Queshu Valley. As long as Queshu Valley was in his hands, the Japanese would never be able to cause any trouble in southern Shanxi.

If Commander Yan resisted seriously, he could also send the mechanized infantry division south to help.

Forget it now. The troops are already tired from the rapid fighting. Although the logistics can keep up, it is a bit hasty. There is no need to torture our own people like this.

He now has to wait and see if that day will arrive on time.

......

On the afternoon of November 11, the mechanized infantry regiment, which had been chasing the Japanese for a day and a night, returned. However, the terrain in the Taiyue Mountains was too bad and even tracked vehicles could not pass through.

However, the number of Japanese troops that escaped was also confirmed.

After the entire Queshu Valley Battle, a total of about 7000 Japanese soldiers were killed, and about Japanese soldiers retreated from Lingshi and Huo County, which was almost the total strength of a third-regiment division of the Japanese soldiers.

Most of the puppet troops were captured, about 2000 people.

The division number was also found out: the 15th Division, one of the first special divisions added by the Japanese.

The whereabouts of the 17th and 48th Divisions originally stationed in Huo County were also found out, and they participated in the southward attack on the Second War Zone.

Just as Xu Le had expected, the Japs did not make any moves after they captured Hejin. They only guarded the north bank of the Fen River and did not cross the river.

The Japanese in the Taiyue Mountains area seemed to have just come out for a stroll and withdrew one after another today.

The Japanese in the Zhongtiao Mountain area also stopped all offensives.

The attack of the Zhongyang devils also slowed down rapidly. After a day, they withdrew from the battle and retreated to Zhongyang County.

These devils all had one thing in common, which was that they did not build fortifications but simply made adjustments.

The Battle of Queshu Valley started in a hurry and ended in a hurry.

But anyone with a discerning eye could see that it was the 88th Army's mobile operations that completely disrupted the Japanese's deployment.

However, the battle in eastern Henan lasted for a while. Under the guidance of General Okamura Yasuji, the Japanese crossed the Yellow River flood area in three routes and launched a surprise attack on Zhengzhou, which fell.

Afterwards, Commander Wei personally went to the front line to command and mobilized the main force of the First War Zone to recapture Zhengzhou.

After this battle, Xu Le finally understood the truth that he had to protect his own back. Although the loss of Hejin had no impact on the 88th Army, Xu Le always felt like he was betrayed.

Xu Le has calculated that, given the current 5x bonus for killing enemies, destroying an infantry regiment of 3000 people can earn 8 military merit points, a fully-strength infantry brigade can earn 23, and a 3-regiment division can earn 60.

In this battle, a total of 35 military merit points were obtained by killing enemies. Although the total number of enemies killed reached two brigades, most of the Japanese officers fled, so the number was a bit small.

As for the weapons captured from the Japanese, the good ones were all kept and distributed to the militia and civilians for self-protection.

All the damage was converted into military merit points, including the wreckage of hundreds of Japanese aircraft that were recovered.

After the Hejin incident, Xu Le decided to draw some soldiers with medium quality from the reserve force to form an independent security brigade, whose main task was to garrison important towns in the rear of the jurisdiction.

因为警备旅不需要具备野战能力，所以不装备装甲车和坦克，主要武器为淘汰的M16步枪、MG42通用机枪、54-1式榴弹炮、L16迫击炮等。

The security brigade is organized into 8 infantry battalions, which are stationed according to the different geographical locations of towns.

For example, it is almost impossible for the Japanese in Hejin to go north, but just in case, two battalions were deployed in the neighboring Xiangning County, and the rest of the ordinary counties stationed battalions or companies, and cooperated with the local police stations to maintain public order.

Among the 2000 captured puppet soldiers, except for more than 100 people who had helped the devils to commit atrocities, most of the others were incorporated into the 178th Mechanized Infantry Regiment, which is now under the 665th Mechanized Infantry Division, after being reformed by instructors appointed by the Political Department.

This was something Xu Le had planned in advance. The incorporated puppet troops could generate a sense of resonance together and achieve unexpected results. They would be led solely by Guo Ditie.

The 665th Regiment also became the regiment with the largest number of troops in the entire army, with 5 armored infantry battalions, 2 artillery battalions and 1 anti-aircraft battalion.

In late November, the Japanese in Hejin and other places gradually abandoned various cities due to logistical shortages.

By the end of the month, as all the Japanese invaders in Linfen retreated eastward, the entire Linfen Basin and Yuncheng Basin returned to the Tang Dynasty.

At this point, the Tang army and the devils once again faced off with the Taiyue Mountains and the Qin River east of the Zhongtiao Mountains as the boundary.

Jiang Feng seized the opportunity and sent troops to Hongdong and Linfen City first, keeping the center of the Linfen Basin firmly under the control of the 88th Army.

Because traffic was restored, the great gift that had been blocked in southwestern Shanxi for half a month finally arrived at the 88th Army headquarters.

That was what Xu Le exchanged for five air defense regiments, 5 pilots and half of the officers and soldiers of the Tang Dynasty Navy.