Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

So when Suematsu Shigeharu learned about the decision made by the North China Front Army, he felt a little opposed to it.

But we cannot disobey the orders of the North China Front Command.

Especially the 102nd Regiment as the vanguard. According to the fighting style of Zeng Jiwen's troops in the past half month, if the 102nd Regiment advances rashly, it is likely that this regiment will be directly surrounded by Zeng Jiwen's troops.

That is why when the 102nd Regiment set off, Shigeharu Suematsu gave these instructions to Kotaro Chiba.

As for whether he listened or not, Shigeharu Suematsu believed that as long as the 102nd Regiment fought with Zeng Jiwen's troops, Chiba Kotaro would naturally remember what he said.

So, when the 102nd Regiment failed in the first round of attack on the 129th Regiment's defensive position, Chiba Kotaro immediately remembered the words of the division commander.

At the same time, he immediately understood why the division commander said this to him.

It seems that the division commander has a deep understanding of the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side.

So, Chiba Kotaro began to change his thinking and ordered his troops to launch a tentative attack on the position of the 129th Regiment.

Chiba Kotaro was not in a hurry to attack the defensive positions of the 129th Regiment, but instead prepared one squadron at a time to let the entire regiment become familiar with the 129th Regiment's attack methods.

At the same time, after discussing with the commander of the 4th Cavalry Brigade, Kazuaki Ohara, Ohara began to lead his two cavalry regiments and the brigade's direct heavy machine gun and indirect artillery regiments to prepare to bypass the flanks and rear of the Eighth Route Army opposite to support the locust army's frontal attack.

If there is an opportunity, the cavalry regiment will attack the defensive position of the 129th Regiment opposite in one fell swoop.

Eliminate the Eighth Route Army in the town, occupy Qianmotou Town, and then continue to support Shijiazhuang.

The time will turn to three in the morning, and Shota will be online.

At this time, Yangquan was under martial law. After gathering the remaining troops of the 117th and 105th Regiments, the commander of the 108th Division, Motojiro Taniguchi, reorganized them into an infantry regiment with two independent battalions. The former commanders of the two regiments, Yoshikazu Takagi and Shintaro Koike, served as the commanders of their respective battalions.

At the same time, the two were demoted directly from their original rank of colonel to lieutenant colonel, allowing them to make meritorious contributions while serving their sentences.

Now, apart from the relatively complete 52nd Regiment, Yangquan only has these two independent Japanese infantry battalions left.

The 132nd Regiment, which was originally stationed in Shouyang, had been retreating to Shouyang after being ambushed and exchanged fire by the 759th Regiment of the 396th Brigade.

During the more than half a month of fighting with the 759th Regiment, the entire 132nd Regiment was attacked from time to time by the 759th Regiment, resulting in only about one and a half battalions of Japanese troops left in Shouyang City.

After the North China Front Army's wartime meeting in Shijiazhuang ended, the 132nd Regiment received an order from the division headquarters to hold its ground in Shouyang and wait for reinforcements from the 39th Brigade of the 20th Division departing from Jinzhong.

At this time, in addition to the three regiments of the 396th Brigade, there were also three main regiments sent by Commander Lu of the Jin-Cha-Ji Fourth Division to support the entire Zhengtai Line.

At the same time, local groups such as Shouyang, Pingding, Heshun and Xiyang also followed the main group.

Outside Shouyang City, at this time, the commander of the 759th Regiment of the 396th Brigade, Yang Guilin, and the political commissar Qiu Jiayuan were discussing with the commander of the Pingding local regiment, Yang Kai, how to launch a surprise attack and capture Shouyang.

Yesterday afternoon, after the Japanese army in North China made the decision, the 39th Brigade in Jinzhong began to reinforce Shijiazhuang by train along the railway.

The 757th Regiment and the Shouyang Local Regiment, in accordance with the orders of the brigade headquarters, blocked the entire Japanese reinforcement brigade in batches in Dongzhao, Duanyan, Lujiazhuang and other places along the way from Jinzhong to Shouyang, buying time for the 759th Regiment to capture Shouyang and build a blocking defense line in Shouyang.

Yang Guilin, commander of the 759th Regiment, looked at Shouyang City not far away, wondering how to quickly capture Shouyang.

In a few hours, it will be daybreak, and this period before daybreak when the Japanese army is in trouble is the best time to attack the city.

Since Shijiazhuang was surrounded by the 389th Division, the Japanese troops in Shouyang and Yangquan on the Zhengtai Line began to enter a state of alert.

As for other strongholds on the line, as early as the beginning, after the 758th Regiment recaptured and pacified the strongholds, the remaining Japanese troops in the strongholds all abandoned the strongholds and retreated into Shouyang and Yangquan City after the attack by the 396th Brigade.

Yang Guilin and a few others looked at Shouyang's defense and thought of the method used by the 758th Regiment to recapture and pacify the city, but then shook their heads.

You can have one but not two.

After Pingding was recaptured, when Taniguchi Motojiro learned from the intelligence department how the Eighth Route Army recaptured Pingding County, he immediately replaced the puppet troops guarding the city tower in his jurisdiction.

At the same time, the city defense troops were strictly prohibited from leaving their posts without authorization during the garrison period.

When Taniguchi Motojiro found out how Pingding was recaptured by the Eighth Route Army, he was so angry that his nose was crooked. These reservists actually thought that they were training in the country and could go home in the afternoon after finishing in the morning.

Especially when he saw that the entire headquarters of the 1st Battalion of the 117th Regiment was wiped out by the Eighth Route Army troops that had sneaked into the city, he immediately called Gao Shujiayi and scolded him harshly.

And under the scolding of Taniguchi Motojiro, Takagi Yoshikazu did not dare to refute.

After all, as the regiment commander, he had heard about the situation of the First Battalion, but nothing had happened before Pingding, so Gao Shujiayi didn't take it to heart. However, the way the Eighth Route Army recaptured Pingding this time gave Gao Shujiayi a few slaps in the face and a few kicks.

Because of this incident, Takagi Yoshikazu was demoted to lieutenant colonel by Taniguchi Motojiro.

Therefore, after suffering losses, the Japanese army strengthened the defense of the city gates and, at the same time, prohibited any officers from gathering together to drink at night.

Thinking of this, several people began to understand that the hidden troops left by Shouyang in the city could no longer move.

Moreover, with the rebellion of the puppet army that had been pacified previously, especially in the current situation, the puppet army in Shouyang City was also under surveillance by the Japanese army.

Even the weapons of the puppet army were confiscated by the commander of the 132nd Regiment, Saito Yoshio.

Although Saito Yoshio knew that there was no puppet army in Shouyang at present, as in the puppet army in Pingding, where the Eighth Route Army's internal spies all became deputy regiment commanders, but Saito Yoshio did not dare to gamble.

What if some of the soldiers in this puppet army were disguised Eighth Route Army soldiers? Once the Eighth Route Army attacked, these armed puppet soldiers would be a time bomb. He didn't want to be like Gao Shujiayi, who was demoted to lieutenant colonel by the division commander.

The most important thing is that if there really is an Eighth Route Army insider in the puppet army who supports the Eighth Route Army outside the city, there will be no reinforcements around our regiment.

Saito Yoshio could easily guess that it was unknown how long it would take for the locust army from Taiyuan to reach Shouyang. Given the current situation, it was likely that by the time the reinforcements of the locust army arrived in Shouyang, Shijiazhuang would have been captured by the Eighth Route Army.