Start as a young leader, grow bigger and stronger, and create more glory

Although Liu Quanhua ordered the restriction of the field artillery battalion, the Japanese had long been overwhelmed. Several attack points were pushed forward vigorously, but were counterattacked with heavy firepower by the 388th Brigade. The infantry suffered heavy losses and the cavalry lost more than half.

The Japanese on the two main lines suffered the most. The troops' RPG rocket launchers were useless, and their tanks and armored vehicles were almost wiped out and lost to cluster bombs. The two divisions, with a total of four infantry regiments, suffered more than 4% casualties.

The Japanese were in complete chaos, and all their commanders were stunned; they had never been subjected to such heavy fire.

Just as the Japanese were in chaos, the jeep commandos from Gaohedian and Chakou were already ready and headed towards the headquarters of the 21st Division and the 37th Division respectively, killing the Japanese like dogs along the way.

At the same time, the two mountain artillery battalions, having achieved their strategic objectives, stopped bombing the city walls and began to carry out precision strikes on the Japanese fortifications at the city gates.

That night, the remnants of the Japanese troops that had attacked the villages and towns retreated and joined the two divisions.

In the middle of the night, the 21st Division and the 37th Division led the remaining troops to flee to Quwo County and Hongdong County respectively, abandoning their weapons and armor.

The 388th Brigade also stopped all offensives. The troops cleared the battlefields overnight and took away all the spoils they could, including the destroyed armored vehicles and tanks.

In the early morning of September 9, the troops surrounding Linfen retreated in an orderly manner. By noon, all the troops of the 17th Brigade in all positions had retreated and returned to the headquarters from the road leading to Pu County.

On the city wall of Linfen, Akiyama Ozaburo watched the 388th Brigade retreat, but he was powerless to do anything. He didn't even dare to breathe, let alone send troops to pursue them.

He also saw clearly through the telescope and finally understood why the Tang army dared to besiege Linfen for so long. It was because they had so many trucks and could fight in full swing even without logistical replenishment in a short period of time.

.......

Just when the 21st Division was severely damaged and could no longer participate in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, the Jin Army and the National Guard Army in Zhongtiao Mountain seized this opportunity to launch a major counterattack.

Although no major results were achieved, the Japanese were already exhausted. The two sides fought several times. Finally, the Japanese had no choice but to withdraw from some towns they had occupied. The Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain ended so dramatically.

The Japanese had been deploying for several months, and at the beginning they were planning to completely occupy Shanxi Province, but now it has become a joke.

......

On September 9, all the battles in southern Shanxi were basically over, and Xu Le personally saw off the sisters Keiko Yamaguchi and Xiaohuan.

As for how Yamaguchi Keiko should explain her disappearance after returning to Taiyuan, Xu Le did not explain. He believed that Yamaguchi Keiko could handle it with her abilities.

Xiao Cui also went to Fenyang, where there was a contact point established by the Intelligence Department. She needed to contact Xiao Huan there and take charge of the intelligence station in Jinzhong.

When the two sisters left, they did not shed a tear because of the separation. Xu Le understood that from now on, he could no longer call them girls, because they were members of the 176th Division and real soldiers.

In order to ensure their safety, Xu Le specially arranged 20 guards to go to Fenyang and Taiyuan respectively to protect the two in secret, and at the same time asked Xiao Si to accompany Xiao Cui.

From then on, Xu Le no longer had the people closest to him.

In fact, he didn't want to, but because these people were the ones he trusted the most, he had to let them carry out the mission personally.

.....

"Young Marshal, the battle statistics are out. I've put the list here. Take a look at it when you have time!"

Jiang Feng naturally understood Xu Le's mood. He placed the list on the table beside Xu Le's bed and left quietly.

No one came to disturb Xu Le these two days.

After taking a deep breath, Xu Le picked up the list and started looking at it.

The battle began on September 9 and all the troops returned to Meidong Mountain on the afternoon of September 7, lasting a total of 9 days. The troops consumed countless ammunition, 17 people were killed, and more than 11 people were injured.

This is the result of a war of attrition. If it continues for a long time, there will definitely be damage. If it is a direct siege, the damage may not be so great!

But now is not the time to capture Linfen. Although the 176th Division has strong firepower, it has few troops and its various arms are not yet perfect. It will not be able to face the retaliation of most of Shanxi Province after occupying Linfen.

A total of more than 100 enemy and Japanese puppet troops were killed, and many damaged enemy armored vehicles and tanks were seized, as well as countless artillery pieces and weapons.

......

Xu Le just took a rough look and didn't calculate in detail. To him, it didn't matter whether the tank was good or bad. All he needed was the steel body, and the same went for all the other Japanese weapons.

He was not worried that the Japanese would send troops to attack just because the 176th Division occupied Pu County, because the Japanese had suffered a setback in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain and also knew the strength of the 176th Division. They would not launch any large-scale military operations in the short term. At most, they would mobilize heavy troops in Linfen to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

There was another piece of information below the battle list, and Xu Le took a careful look at it.

This is the intelligence collected by the Intelligence Department and the notice issued by the National Guard Military Commission. When the 74th Division of the Shanxi Army was counterattacking in Zhongtiao Mountain, it tried to withdraw troops from the front line. The Military Control Commission suddenly appeared during the mobilization, and without saying a word, they detained the commander of the 74th Division and shot several senior officers of the 74th Division on the spot, on the grounds that the 74th Division was collaborating with the enemy and selling out the country. There are no specific details.

.....

The next day, Xu Le recovered his spirit and held a meeting with the General Staff. The troops now had plenty of time to start training vigorously and try to make sure that everyone could drive. At the same time, they would strengthen the training of scouts of all arms and speed up the conscription process.

After that, he exchanged all the seized weapons and equipment for military merit points. 15 Type 5600 armored vehicles, each weighing kilograms, were exchanged for military merit points.

38 Type 6700 light tanks, weighing kg, exchanged for military merit points.

Because the Japanese artillery regiment was well protected, only a small number of infantry guns and artillery were captured, and all of them were destroyed, and a total of military merit points were exchanged.

Together with some destroyed heavy machine guns, all the weapons seized this time were exchanged for military merit points.

This is the consequence of having too much firepower. It is almost impossible to seize complete heavy weapons. As for light weapons, not to mention Xu Le, even the soldiers in the army didn't want to take a second look at them. They were too low-grade.