Chapter 160: Cruel and ruthless (Subscribe please...) "idiot!" "Is there something wrong with those bureaucrats' brains?!" “An officer observation group? Are they treating fighting as a kabuki performance?" In a village occupied by the 4th Brigade, Pinglu Yongfu saw the telegram sent from Taiyuan and became so angry that he started cursing. The troops were ready and could attack at any time, but at this time a telegram came from Taiyuan asking him to keep his troops in place and prepare to receive a group of officers from the North China Front Army. By the way, he assisted Yamamoto Ikki's special forces in launching a surprise attack on the headquarters of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. If the 4th Brigade really did not move, then by the early morning the other two brigades would have all arrived at the attack position and launched an attack on the Eighth Route Army. Let’s not talk about whether the high-ranking Eighth Route Army officers in Yuxi Town will be captured by other troops. Just say that after this night, the high-ranking officer of the Eighth Route Army might have moved away from Yuxi Town! But it was useless for Pinglu Yongfu to be angry now.
The order has been issued, and it is impossible for the brave man of Pinglu to disobey on the battlefield. Even though the order from Taiyuan disrupted all his battle plans, Pinglu Yongfu had no choice but to carry out the order obediently. Otherwise, if there were any problems with the Officers Observation Corps, his 4th Brigade would be reorganized into a garrison brigade. Pinglu Yongfu closed his eyes, sighed, and gave the order again with great reluctance. "Send a telegram to Kasahara Koizumi, asking him to change his target, order him to turn around and continue attacking Tongshi Town, and then quickly go to Wangjiapo to meet up with Yamazaki's battalion. If there is still time after rescuing the Yamazaki Battalion, then try to destroy the Eighth Route Army's headquarters arsenal. If you don’t have time, then go back to Tongshi Town. Hironobu Ichiro led the 1st and 2nd Independent Infantry Battalions to deploy along the way, preparing to meet the officer observation group sent by North China and Yamamoto Ikki's special forces. The remaining troops will follow me to garrison in Tongshi Town." "Hi!" After giving the order, Pinglu Yongfu walked down the mountain position. Almost all the battle plans he had formulated were abandoned, and he was now feeling extremely depressed. Pinglu Yongfu now hated the bureaucrats who sent the officers to observe the group. "Sir, this is a telegram sent specifically to you from Commander Yoshio Shinozuka." Pinglu Yongfu had just returned to a truck when a Japanese telegraph operator handed him a telegram. "Oh? A telegram from the Commander?" Pinglu Yongfu listened to what the telegraph operator said and took the telegram with some doubts. Since he said that the telegram was sent specifically to him, it was naturally impossible for Pinglu Yongfu to ask the telegraph operator to read the contents of the telegram aloud. Who knows if Yoshio Shinozuka told me any private information? [Pinglu, Lieutenant General Iwamatsu Yoshio of the North China Front Command reported to Major General Hattori Naoomi, I am very interested in the special operations proposed by Colonel Yamamoto Ikki of the First Army of the Empire of Japan in Shanxi.
Therefore, two hundred captain-level officers were selected from various units of the North China Front Army to form an officer observation group to go to our First Army to observe and learn about the so-called special operations of Colonel Yamamoto Ikki. The North China Front Army Observation Group is expected to arrive in Taiyuan tonight. After discussing with Mr. Yamamoto, we decided to carry out a decapitation operation against the headquarters of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. According to speculation, the headquarters of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army is located in the Baihuling area. I hope Pinglu will support Yamamoto's special forces. In addition, after the observation group arrives tonight, I will draw out a battalion of troops from the 21st Brigade responsible for the defense of Pingyao to escort the North China Front Army Officers Observation Group to your unit as quickly as possible. Major General Naoomi Hattori, commander of the 21st Brigade, is the leading officer of the North China Front Army Officer Observation Group and will not participate in combat command. I also hope that Mr. Pinglu will entertain the officers' observation group well. If Mr. Yamamoto's plan fails, I hope that Mr. Pinglu can protect the safety of the officers' observation group. We must not let the Officers Observation Group be completely wiped out by the Eighth Route Army. If the battle goes unfavorably, Pinglu Jun will quickly lead the 4th Brigade to retreat to Pingyao. This is my personal request to Mr. Pinglu. I hope Mr. Pinglu can protect the officer observation group sent by Lieutenant General Yoshio Iwamatsu. Regardless of whether Yamamoto's special forces have achieved results, please protect the officers' observation group and do not let them be harmed by the Eighth Route Army or bandits. 】 This is a telegram that looks very normal. No matter who reads it, they can only get one message. That is, Yoshio Shinozuka was very concerned about the safety of the officers' observation group, and even sent a telegram to Pinglu Yongfu in his personal name, asking Pinglu Yongfu to protect the officers' observation group. However, in this telegram that clearly reflected Yoshio Shinozuka's concern for the safety of the officers' observation group, Pinglu Yongfu saw murderous intent hidden between the lines! Pinglu Yongfu, who was able to become a major general brigade commander by his own ability, is not an idiot. In addition, Pinglu Yongfu brought the 4th Brigade and came to Shanxi with Shinozuka Yoshio. How could he not understand what Yoshio Shinozuka really meant? This whole thing about protecting the officers' observation group is nonsense. What Yoshio Shinozuka really meant was to let him see if there was a chance to kill all the members of the officers' observation group! And I have found reasons and excuses for myself. The Eighth Route Army, or maybe bandits... I have to say that Yoshio Shinozuka is completely worthy of the description of cruel and ruthless. Hiraru Isamu also knew something about the affairs of Yoshio Shinozuka and Yoshio Iwamatsu. Because Yoshio Iwamatsu did not want to go to Southeast Asia to fight, he applied to go to the First Army to replace Yoshio Shinozuka. Under normal circumstances, there would be no big problem for Yoshio Iwamatsu to replace Yoshio Shinozuka. Because the time has come for Yoshio Shinozuka to hand over power. If Yoshio Iwamatsu does not succeed Yoshio Shinozuka, there will be someone else to replace Yoshio Shinozuka and become the new commander of the Shanxi First Army. But the bad thing is that Yoshio Shinozuka will be handing over the position of commander in just over a month. At the beginning, although Yoshio Shinozuka did not make much contribution in Shanxi, he did not make any mistakes either. But just over a week ago, the Eighth Route Army suddenly launched an attack on the Shangdang area and directly seized the entire Shangdang area from the Shanxi garrison. The loss of such a large piece of territory, and an important area like Shangdang, is related to the safety of the Zhongtiao Mountain troops. Naturally, the commanders of the troops stationed in the Shangdang area could not bear such a big blame. Among the entire Shanxi garrison, only Yoshio Shinozuka can take the blame, and only Yoshio Shinozuka can take the blame.
After all, it was purely because Yoshio Shinozuka failed to mobilize troops for support in time that Shangdang was completely lost. (End of this chapter)