Traveling through 1937, starting from the Battle of Songhu

Chapter 426 Cage Policy?

At the same time, Yamashiro.

Principal Chang began to feel embarrassed. He had to report such a great victory to him at the same time, but what about the reward?

The independent group is a thorn in his heart. How should he deal with it?

Logically speaking, he should have such a strong army by his side, especially since the other side has no organization so far, and some of them are just the invalid appointments of the 21st Army.

The problem is that now, it is not right for him to be rewarded, but it is also not right not to reward him.

After sitting for half an hour, Principal Chang shook his head with a wry smile and then issued an order!

A few hours later, a secret team set out from the mountain city and headed for Laiyuan...

Several days passed in a flash, and the new Japanese commander was in place. Facing the devastated Jin-Cha-Ji region, Shinozuka Yoshio suddenly regretted agreeing to the cabinet.

This is not just a mess, it is a mess beyond measure. Even Taiyuan where their headquarters is located is extremely depressed. It can be seen how unpopular Umezu Michiro was when he was here.

But since they were already here, they had to do something. Without giving it much thought, Yoshio Shinozuka summoned all the officers from the headquarters.

"Yamaoka-kun, tell me, how could the Empire, with so many troops, be defeated by a small independent regiment?"

Yoshio Shinozuka, who had just arrived, was quite polite and did not address him by his name, otherwise Michitake Yamaoka would have gone back to prepare.

"Commander, we are on the offensive. The Laiyuan Independent Regiment, in cooperation with the Eighth Route Army, has the advantage of terrain and people. The Independent Regiment's heavy artillery and various firepower are suppressing us, so..."

Yamaoka's words did not surprise Yoshio Shinozuka, and he then asked other Japanese officers for their opinions.

After a while, Yoshio Shinozuka looked at Ichiro Yamaki who was sitting below him.

"Yamaki-kun, the First Army spent a huge amount of manpower, material resources, and financial resources to train you, and in this war, all you achieved was the massacre of a village?"

Yoshio Shinozuka's words were very rude, which made the already arrogant Ichiro Yamaki feel humiliated.

It’s no wonder that the newly appointed commander was angry. Their performance was even worse than that of an ordinary field squad. It was so shameful.

"Commander, the Sakura Special Attack Team received a score of zero this time. This is Yamaki's fault. Please punish me!"

Shinozuka Yoshio shook his head and then said calmly, "Personally, I'm more optimistic about the role of the special attack team, but that requires results."

After saying that, he ignored Yamaki Ichiro and looked directly at the other Japanese officers.

"The Imperial Army suffered heavy losses, as did the Eighth Route Army and the Laiyuan Independent Regiment. However, Jinzhong only has one capable independent regiment, while the Imperial Army has two million brave warriors in China."

"If necessary, we can always organize dozens or even hundreds of divisions to fight against each other through attrition. Ten independent regiments can't even compete!"

“Failure is not terrible, what is terrible is the loss of confidence.”

Shinozuka Yoshio stood up and looked at the Japanese officers below with a burning gaze. He asked in a stern tone, "Gentlemen, are you afraid of a small Jinzhong?"

The Japanese soldiers looked at each other and then shouted "Don't be afraid". Staff officer Michitake Yamaoka shouted the loudest, fearing that he would have to go back to the base camp.

At this time, if the Japanese officers dared to say they were afraid, they would basically be demoted and sent to other places.

"Yoshi!" Shinozuka Yoshio nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Yamaoka Michitake and said, "Yamaoka-kun, I've told headquarters that you're most familiar with the situation in Jin-Cha-Ji, so let's put your guilt aside for now. In the coming time, please cooperate with me in governing Jin-Cha-Ji."

Upon hearing this, Yamaoka Michitake was overjoyed. He immediately bowed deeply to Shinozuka Yoshio and said, "Commander, thank you for your care!"

In fact, Yoshio Shinozuka was also very clear that Yamaoka Michitake was just a staff officer, and the person who really made the decision was the former commander Michijiro Umezu.

In order to familiarize himself with the situation here as quickly as possible, Shinozuka Yoshio asked Yamaoka Michitake to stay. If there are any problems later, there will be someone to take the blame.

He wouldn't be as stupid as Umezu Michijiro and commit seppuku. If he really has a crime, can't he throw it on his subordinates?

The way to employ people is to let your subordinates take the blame when necessary, and just take the small problems yourself. Who knows, they may be able to accomplish big things one day.

Yoshio Shinozuka took great pains to deal with the complicated situation in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei, and even thought of a retreat plan in advance. It has to be said that he is indeed very different from Umezu Michijiro who committed seppuku.

Inside the Japanese headquarters, Yoshio Shinozuka continued speaking.

"Gentlemen, the lessons of the 106th, 26th, and 6th Divisions tell us that the Laiyuan Independent Regiment has become powerful. It is impossible for the Empire to send troops to encircle and suppress them!"

"The division and below could be wiped out at any time. Sending an army of 100,000 or 200,000 is unrealistic. Gaojia Town is so small that it would be difficult to feed and drink hundreds of thousands of warriors."

"Therefore, the Imperial Army must change its strategy towards the Gaojiazhen army. I have decided to adopt a cage policy for the entire Jinzhong area."

"First, a large number of watchtowers, blockhouses, additional strongholds, blockade ditches, and blockade walls were built in the Laiyuan area, forming a "cage policy" with railways as pillars, roads as chains, and blockhouses as locks.

"Using numerous bunkers, permanent fortifications, and roads as chains, we will completely lock the Independent Regiment in Gaojia Town, preventing even a grain of food and supplies from entering."

"When the Independent Regiment is weak enough, that will be the day when our Imperial Army will march out, and then we will destroy them in one fell swoop!"

After Shinozuka Yoshio finished speaking, he looked at the Japanese officers with cold eyes, waiting for their reaction.

Yamaoka Michitake was also considered an excellent student, and he immediately understood what the commander was planning. However, he was very familiar with the firepower of the independent regiment, so he hesitated before speaking.

"Commander, the independent regiment has 150-caliber heavy artillery and rapid-fire guns that provide cluster fire coverage. Bunkers and other such things don't seem to be very useful."

"Of course, Commander, your cage policy is definitely the best tactic, especially when facing the Eighth Route Army."

"The only thing is that it takes time for the tactics to be effective, and it also requires a lot of manpower and material resources to support it."

Yamaoka stopped talking here. As a staff officer, he could only give a reminder. The rest was up to the commander to make the decision.

Yoshio Shinozuka was somewhat satisfied with Yamaoka's performance. It turned out that he was not that bad and could see the problem clearly.

"Mr. Yamaoka, I'm well aware that the Laiyuan Independent Regiment has heavy artillery. What do you think about this?"

Yoshio Shinozuka was not in a hurry. He had to consider the level of this chief of staff.

Yamaoka Michitake thought for a moment and said, "Simply building a gun tower is indeed not enough to withstand the heavy artillery of the independent regiment."

"My suggestion is to gather a large amount of cement and stone to build the artillery tower into a semi-permanent fortification. The core bunker should be built into a permanent fortification with reinforced concrete, and a large number of Imperial Army troops should be stationed in Laiyuan."

"In this way, the Imperial Army only needs a small number of troops to contain the Independent Regiment."

"In addition, the road network surrounding Gaojia Town must be connected, and even a large number of minefields and barbed wire must be laid. A large number of armored vehicles must be deployed to patrol the roads regularly."

"The key is to heavily garrison Laiyuan City and Lingqiu City, as well as Baoding and Shijiazhuang. This will prevent other units from reacting quickly when the independent regiment attacks the city."

Shinozuka Yoshio's smile grew wider, and he couldn't help but applaud and said, "Yoshi, Yamaoka-kun's suggestion is very good, but there is a problem. If I leave this to you, how long will it take you to complete these tasks?"

Upon hearing this, Yamaoka Michitake hesitated and asked, "Commander, regarding the military strength..."

Shinozuka Yoshio waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about that. The headquarters will take care of it."

He has already received news about this matter. The headquarters is planning a new round of conscription, which will last for one month. By then, with additional troops, it will not be a problem for him to stabilize the situation.

This reassured Yamaoka Michitake. After a moment's thought, he said, "If we have sufficient manpower and resources, it will take at least half a year to see results from building a large number of fortifications."

Shinozuka Yoshio nodded in satisfaction and said, "Yoshi, Yamaoka-kun, I'll leave this matter to you. By the end of this year, I need to see these appear around Gaojia Town, and then use the next year to trap Gaojia Town to death!"

His target is Laiyuan. It’s not that other areas are out of his sight, but he doesn’t have enough energy for them at the moment.

His first target when he took office was the Laiyuan Independent Regiment. If he didn't solve this problem, he wouldn't be able to hold on to his position as commander.