The battlefield behind enemy lines in North China entered a period of delicate balance due to the Battle of Zhaojiazhuang.

The Japanese army firmly guarded cities and counties and controlled an area with a radius of roughly four or five kilometers from the county seat. In addition, they strengthened armed patrols on major transportation roads.

To this end, the Japanese North China Front did not hesitate to second two cavalry regiments from the nearby Kwantung Army, transported a number of tanks from China, formed three cavalry regiments directly under the jurisdiction of the headquarters, and transferred back the 3rd Division from the Western Front

and the 16th Division to strengthen control of the occupied areas.

The so-called cavalry regiment here is very different from the cavalry regiment in the Japanese division. In addition to retaining a symbolic regular cavalry squadron with war horses, the other three squadrons are equipped with Type 94 light tanks, Type 92 armored vehicles,

There is also the Type 97 light cavalry tank to replace it, becoming a very threatening motorized assault force.

In particular, the Type 97 light cavalry tank is a masterpiece of Japanese military industry!

This tank is smaller overall than the Type 95 tank. It is only equipped with a Type 94 37mm tank gun. It is mainly responsible for infantry offensive operations and anti-armor operations. It is not equipped with a machine gun. It has a crew of 2 people. It has a top speed of 40 kilometers per hour and frontal armor.

12mm.

It seems to be of little use, but the Japanese, who have gone to the extreme in saving materials in the development of light tanks, have no intention of developing the only tank destroyer model on the battlefield at that time. The Type 97 cavalry tank was used in the Battle of Nomonkan that broke out half a year ago.

He became famous in the battle and became the only bright spot in the Battle of Nomenkan where the Japanese army was beaten to a pulp.

For the same target, the Type 97 cavalry tank is too small, almost as big as a small car. It can flexibly avoid artillery attacks on the battlefield. The smaller it is, the smaller the chance of being hit by artillery shells. After survival can be guaranteed, its equipment

The Type 94 37mm anti-tank gun can penetrate 50mm of armor at a distance of 500 meters, which is enough to deal with Mao Xiong's T26 tanks and BT series tanks.

To put it bluntly, although the Type 97 is small and light, its firepower is still quite strong. It is a weapon that is far more suitable for attacking fortified positions on the plains than the Type 94 light tank.

Such five cavalry regiments were sent to the occupied area, supplemented by some infantry. It was indeed an extremely difficult bone to crack.

At the same time, the Wang Puppet Government, supported by the Japanese army, was authorized to rename the North China Security Army as the "North China Appeasement Army" in advance and recruit a large number of troops. By the end of October, the North China Appeasement Army already had 12 groups and an artillery brigade.

There are 11 independent infantry regiments with more than 70,000 troops.

Zheng Yunqiu, who performed "outstandingly" in the Battle of Zhaojiazhuang, was also promoted to the commander of the 1st Regiment of the 101 Group and was ordered to be stationed in Handan.

It can be said that in the nearly three months of melee in southern Hebei, the Japanese side paid a heavy price. There were too many small soldiers, the junior officers were either killed in battle or slapped, and the general officers were about to be sprayed to death by the domestic people. But this is the only company who has risen to the top.

Upgrade two levels and become the guy who benefits the most among the Japanese army.

Perhaps the only thing that worries him is the little tail that is tightly held by the Chinese soldiers on the opposite side. That thing is also a big bomb. As long as the fuse is slightly pulled, it can be blown to pieces.

But let’s face it! There’s no point in worrying. Commander Zheng Da is now a man of the hour in the Handan area. He gives a lot of money and goods. He can ask for weapons, money, food or information, as long as it’s not too much.

Satisfied one by one.

Zheng Yunqiu also knows that a living self is far more useful to the opponent than a dead self.

Duo Tianjun no longer stubbornly insisted on his "Operation Clearing the Countryside". From the end of July to November, more than three months seemed like soy sauce. In addition to holding on to the city and controlling the main traffic arteries to ensure the transportation of supplies, Zhongtiao Mountain

The front line and the southeast Shanxi front line also made little achievements.

The Yellow River Gorge, which was once said to be conquered within this year, is only one month away from New Year's Day, and still no progress has been made.

When the Chinese side saw that the Japanese had ceased their activities, they were happy to be quiet and started the "you strengthen yours, I will strengthen mine" mode.

Not to mention other base areas behind enemy lines, Jinnan, in addition to continuing to recruit troops to expand its troops, has also adopted the model of "building walls high and accumulating grain widely". A large amount of land has been laid waste due to the war, so it must be replanted, and wheat and corn cannot be grown.

, sorghum, then plant other crops, anyway, plant everything you can eat.

A large amount of grain is also continuously delivered to southern Hebei through various channels.

In addition to supplying food to the army, there are also subsidies for the people, especially military dependents. The regular army subsidizes 30 kilograms of refined grain and 50 kilograms of coarse grain per household per month, and the militia subsidizes 40 kilograms of coarse grain per household. This further stimulates the people in the base area to send their children and sons to join the army.

of enthusiasm.

Except for military families, the rest of the people can only obtain food through labor. Subsidies can be obtained for replanting food crops, digging tunnels, building high walls in villages, and providing shoe soles to make cloth shoes for the army.

Autumn is just around the corner and winter is over. There is no food in the cold twelfth lunar month. No old, weak, woman or child can survive the cold winter. Moreover, the Japanese army’s rural clearing operation in the past few months is right in front of us. Without the soldiers to resist bravely, the whole village will be destroyed.

The entire village had been massacred, and how could the people who had few escape options not work hard?

Men mainly did the physical work of digging tunnels, building high walls, and digging ditches. Women did textiles, needlework, and even farming. The elderly and children were responsible for helping to carry the excavated soil. A large number of wheelbarrows were manufactured.

Unicycle convoys composed of dozens of people can be seen everywhere moving slowly on the plains. They are not filled with food or equipment, but are filled with dirt!

A large amount of soil was excavated from the ground, some were built into walls, some were made into fortifications, but most were piled up to form man-made hills.

Viewed from a high altitude, there are nearly a thousand man-made hills like this, which is really spectacular!

It was probably Tang Dao's tactical consideration to use such large man-made hills to form barriers, which could be used as obstacles to the rapid advancement of Japanese armored vehicles and trucks during wartime.

There are even some tunnels that only lead to these hills, and soldiers can reach the commanding heights on these plains at any time through the tunnels.

On the other hand, if the Japanese army wants to seize these man-made commanding heights, they may unfortunately enter minefields or even directional blasting points.

The entire Jinan Plain has become a large construction site. According to the records of the Jinan Office, in just three months, hundreds of thousands of acres of crops were replanted in the Jinan area, and a total length of 3,000 kilometers of tunnels were excavated and reinforced, leading to roads in villages and towns.

There are 6,000 kilometers of ditches, 1,206 man-made combat hills, and 160,000 earth-made mines of various types.

The 3 million soldiers and civilians of southern Hebei who burst out with life potential under the crisis of survival relied on their own hands to complete this miraculous plain defense project before the arrival of the cold winter.

On the North China battlefield, China and Japan entered a stalemate. The two defense lines of Zhongtiao Mountain and Taihang Mountain blocked the heavy Japanese troops pressing against the Yellow River defense line. However, the Chinese military and civilians in enemy-occupied areas united as one and developed production under the leadership of the regular army.

Unite and strengthen your resistance.

On the South China battlefield, in early September, Gangcun Xiaoci commanded 4 divisions, 2 detachments and one unit each of the navy and aviation force, with a total of more than 100,000 people. Using the split-advance and combined-attack tactics, he launched three armies from northern Hunan, northern Jiangxi, and southern Hubei.

Attack Tanzhou from all directions.

The acting commander-in-chief of China's Ninth Theater Command commanded 15 armies, one advancing army, and more than 200,000 troops. He also had an ambitious plan to use the favorable terrain of mountains and rivers to organize defense and consume the Japanese army. He first lured the Japanese army to the vicinity of Changsha, and then surrounded and annihilated it.

It took the two generals, both of whom were famous enough in the history of the Sino-Japanese war, a month to achieve the strategic goals they had previously envisioned.

Gangcun Xiaoci neither captured the main force of China's 9th Theater nor captured the main strategic objectives. In Gan Province, he almost lost a division to the Chinese army and was disgraced.

Although Commander Xue failed to accomplish his previous strategic goal of luring the enemy in-depth to annihilate a Japanese division or even more, he held Tanzhou and generally had the upper hand.

The southern battlefield is in full swing, while the northern battlefield is an undercurrent of both sides accumulating strength. This is just the current situation on the battlefield in China.

For the commanders on both sides, it is natural that they have plans.

Although Duo Tianjun is a typical example of great ambition and limited talent, he is by no means the kind of person who shrinks back his head after being punished and no longer dares to make wrong ideas.

In the past three months, the leader of the Japanese military in North China has not been idle. He took a special plane to the Kwantung Army headquarters in Changchun and even returned to his homeland.

Of course, this person did not go back specifically to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor, but returned to his country to seek help.

Before leaving, Duo Tianjun and Okabe Saburo, who was no longer his chief of staff but was still forced to stay in Pingbei City because of punishment, had a secret conversation all night.

When Duo Tianjun returned from the mainland, Saburo Okabe received a telegram from the base camp, ordering him to immediately leave for the Northeast to take over the position of commander of the First Division.

Although he knew that this day would come sooner or later, when he actually received the order to take up his post at the base camp, Saburo Okabe still burst into tears with excitement.

It’s too difficult, it’s really too difficult!

It has been a full year and a half, almost 40 years since rumors of taking office came out in June 1938, and it is finally my turn.

Thinking of this problem, Saburo Okabe couldn't help but think of Tang Dao's disgusting face.

It's not that Tang Dao's handsome appearance often haunts this long-suffering Japanese Army Lieutenant General, but if it weren't for Tang Dao and the Four Elements Group, he would have taken office at least a year earlier.

To put it bluntly, the Tang Sword was a stumbling block and a roadblock on Okabe Saburo's progress, but at least Okabe Saburo was going to the Kwantung Army, thousands of kilometers away from North China, and he no longer had to deal with the 'scourge' of the Tang Sword.

But Saburo Okabe still couldn't get Tang Dao's hateful face out of his mind. When he got on the plane, he took a deep look to the northwest.

Although it was not under his personal command, it was through his telegram that nearly 100,000 imperial warriors died on this battlefield. He had no nostalgia for this land.

But Saburo Okabe knows that there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests, let alone his relationship with Duo Tianjun, which is not even a friend.

If Duo Tianjun hadn't found His Royal Highness the Prince and convinced the die-hards at the base camp, he wanted to become the commander of the First Division, and I'm afraid there would have been huge setbacks.

However, no matter what, when he becomes the supreme commander of the division with the longest history of the Japanese Army and has independent command authority, when he meets that hateful young man again in the future, he will definitely let his opponent know how powerful he is.

Saburo Okabe got into the cabin and never looked at the land that left him with a deep sense of shame.

On November 1, Saburo Okabe took office as commander of the First Division located in Qiqihar.

On November 15, the First Division was ordered to be transferred to Shengjing to reorganize the army and change its uniform.

The number of the entire division reaches 30,000, and with the addition of counterweighted firepower, the artillery can be seen from the artillery wing alone. The number of 75MM mountain guns is reduced to 12, the number of 105mm howitzers is 24, and there are 12 150mm howitzers.

The cavalry regiment was retained, but a new tank regiment was added, with a total of 60 light and heavy tanks.

The strength of the First Division suddenly increased, but it was transferred to Shenyang. This made Mao Xiong nervous for a while, thinking that the Japanese were unwilling to give up after the Battle of Nomenkan and planned to save their strength to fight them again.

The Japanese diplomatic envoy has repeatedly assured that the Kwantung Army has no ambitions for the border, but the Mao Xiong people are a bit thick, but they are not stupid. Your first division has changed its generals and updated its equipment. I trust you.

ghost.

On the border, the Mao Xiong people invested two more mechanized infantry divisions, waiting for the first division still in Shengjing to fight.

As everyone knows, Lieutenant General Saburo Okabe, who was newly appointed as the division commander, has always had a map of North China on his bedside.

Duo Tianjun is not good at fighting, but he shows off his skills in the circle of friends.

........

Both Duo Tianjun and Okabe Saburo are unwilling to fail and are busy trying to make a comeback. What is Tang Tuanzao busy with?

Anyway, the swords and guns will not be stored in the treasury, and the horse will be sent home to Nanshan to have a child with the commander of Tantai Dalian.

Tang Tuanzuo went back to the Sixings Regiment's station. He stayed at the station for less than a week. He and Tantai Mingyue only had less than three meals in total. He spent an hour in the middle to teach his brother-in-law how to shoot.

Went on a long trip.
To be continued...