Chapter 199: Yonekura Taro Watching the Fire from the Other Side
Dawangzhuang stronghold.
Yonekura Dalang, who had a melancholy look on his face, was walking back and forth on the top floor of the artillery tower.
But since he heard the sound of gunfire not far away, the heavy stone in Yonekura Dalang's heart finally fell to the ground.
Listening to the fierce gunfire not far away, a smile appeared on Dalang Yonekura's face.
"Fight, the more intense the better, it would be best if we could kill all the officers in the observation group!"
"Quick, send a message to Ono-kun, tell him to ignore everything else and immediately launch an attack on the Dawangzhuang stronghold! Quickly!"
"Hi!"
Hearing the gunshots in the distance, Taro Yonekura immediately gave orders to his trusted telegraph operator beside him.
Now that the officers' observation group has been ambushed by the Eighth Route Army, there is naturally no need for him to find ways to recruit bandits or disguise himself as the Eighth Route Army to attack the officers' observation group.
Taro Yonekura believed that once the Eighth Route Army saw clearly the military ranks of the officers' observation group, they would not let anyone go.
Even if a few officers escaped, they were just a few and Yonekura Taro could easily deal with them by himself.
So now Yonekura Dalang needs the troops that were originally prepared to disguise themselves as bandits to launch an attack on the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
In order to fabricate the illusion that the Dawangzhuang stronghold was attacked, so the Dawangzhuang stronghold was unable to send reinforcements to support the officers' observation group.
"Chief of Staff, the officer observation group sent by the North China Front Army was attacked!"
Just after Taro Yonekura gave the order to the communicator, Nathan Sekiguchi, the captain of the 3rd Independent Infantry Battalion of the 4th Brigade, heard gunshots not far away, and rushed up to the artillery tower with an anxious look on his face and asked Taro Yonekura.
Nathan Sekiguchi had no idea about the plans of Taro Yonekura and Isamu Hirata.
Nathan Sekiguchi was only a lieutenant colonel and was transferred from other troops. He was not a veteran of the 4th Brigade.
Due to time constraints, Nathan Sekiguchi has not yet entered the core circle of the 4th Brigade, and has not yet been treated as one of the 4th Brigade's own by Pinglu Yongfu and others.
Therefore, it was Nathan Sekiguchi's turn to serve as the escort for the North China Front Army Officers Observation Group.
After all, most of the soldiers in Nathan Sekiguchi's independent 3rd Infantry Battalion are new recruits, so even if there are losses, it will not have any impact on the 4th Brigade.
At present, Nathan Sekiguchi has no idea what the top leaders of the 4th Brigade are thinking.
He also knew that the top brass of the 4th Brigade had not truly accepted him.
Nathan Sekiguchi thought that it was because he had just arrived at the 4th Brigade and had no achievements, so the top leaders of the 4th Brigade did not formally accept him.
Therefore, Nathan Sekiguchi took this escort mission very seriously.
Nathan Sekiguchi hopes to gain recognition from the 4th Brigade by completing the tasks assigned by Pinglu Yongfu.
As a result, he was completely accepted by the 4th Brigade.
So when he realized that the North China Front Army Officers Observation Group had been ambushed, he immediately rushed forward hoping that Taro Yonekura would agree to let him send troops to support the Officers Observation Group.
If Guankou Nathan was the only one in the Dawangzhuang stronghold, perhaps Guankou Nathan would have sent troops to support by now.
But Yonekura Dalang is now in the Dawangzhuang stronghold. Yonekura Dalang is a colonel and his superior. If he does not have Yonekura Dalang's consent, he will be mobilizing troops privately.
Now the officers' observation group was attacked not far from Dawangzhuang. If any accident happened to the officers' observation group near the Dawangzhuang stronghold, he could not bear the responsibility.
Taro Yonekura was the chief of staff of the brigade, so Pinglu Yongfu naturally would not let Taro Yonekura take the responsibility. At that time, the blame would fall on him, a small lieutenant colonel.
In other words, Nathan Sekiguchi had no connections at all, and he was promoted to lieutenant colonel entirely based on his academic qualifications and some merits.
In addition, he was insensitive to some things and had no idea about it. As a lieutenant colonel, he could not take the blame for the annihilation of the officers' observation group.
Listening to what Sekiguchi Nathan said, Yonekura Taro said in a deep voice.
"Have you checked the area nearby? Have you found any ambush by the Eighth Route Army?!
We must prevent the Eighth Route Army from surrounding a point and attacking its reinforcements.
Before I returned from the Linjiaji stronghold, I specially arranged for personnel to conduct reconnaissance in the vicinity, but found no signs of large-scale activities of the Eighth Route Army.
The Eighth Route Army was not aware of the situation of the Officers Observation Group. They probably thought it was just an ordinary troop, so they sent a small force to ambush the Officers Observation Group.
Then we will attract the reinforcements sent by Dawangzhuang, surround the stronghold and attack it, and after weakening the troops inside the stronghold, we will launch an attack on Dawangzhuang.
The Dawangzhuang stronghold is in a strategically important position and cannot be lost. It requires careful identification and reconnaissance!
Otherwise, if they fell into the Eighth Route Army's strategy of encircling and attacking the reinforcements, resulting in the loss of the Dawangzhuang stronghold, not only would the Officers' Observation Group be in danger, but even the 4th Brigade would be completely trapped in the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army!
Besides, we haven't received any telegram asking for help yet.
There was no order from the brigade commander either.
If I send out troops without permission and end up losing the Dawangzhuang stronghold, even I won't be able to bear the responsibility!
In addition, the officers' observation group is surrounded by a squadron of guards. With so many troops, even if they encounter an attack by the Eighth Route Army, they are more than enough to protect the officers' observation group and help them break through to our Dawangzhuang stronghold.
Even if we cannot break through, we can still hold out for a long time. Our current task is to ensure that the Dawangzhuang stronghold will not be captured by the Eighth Route Army.
Guankou Nathan, go down and reorganize the troops first, send a small team to explore the way, and the rest of the personnel should provide support and preparation. "
Taro Yonekura did not reject Nathan Sekiguchi's suggestion to go for support.
After all, if he refused directly, wouldn't that be telling Nathan Sekiguchi that he wanted to cause an accident to the officers' observation group?
If Nathan does something weird at the checkpoint, we will be in big trouble.
So Taro Yonekura pretended to be worried about being surrounded and attacked by the Eighth Route Army, and asked Nathan Sekiguchi to send a small team to explore the way first, and then let the rest of the troops prepare for support.
As for when the support troops will set out, it depends on when Ono-kun, who is preparing to pretend to attack the Dawangzhuang stronghold, launches an attack on Dawangzhuang.
"Hi!"
After listening to what Taro Yonekura said, Nathan Sekiguchi responded and then ran down the artillery tower without stopping to start making preparations according to Taro Yonekura's requirements.
As they continued to walk down, Nathan Guanguchi slowly realized that something was wrong.
Logically speaking, given the attack on the officers' observation group, which was such a big thing, Taro Yonekura's reaction should not have been so calm.
Being able to become a lieutenant colonel, Nathan Sekiguchi was not a fool. After coming to his senses, Nathan Sekiguchi also noticed something was wrong. He heard the sound of gunfire and analyzed that it was very likely that the officer observation group was attacked, so he went to find Taro Yonekura to give him the order for support.
But since I had analyzed that the officers' observation group was attacked, was it possible that Taro Yonekura could not have analyzed the same thing?
Logically speaking, even if Mikura Dalang was worried that the Dawangzhuang stronghold would be attacked and the Eighth Route Army was preparing to surround the stronghold and attack the reinforcements, Mikura Dalang would have sent someone to notify the direct military commander of his unit as soon as he heard the gunshots.
However, Yonekura Taro didn't ask anyone to notify him, but went to find Yonekura Taro on his own.
There are messengers on the top of the artillery tower where Yonekura Dalang is located. Even if there are not enough people, he can just shout to the people below and they will be heard.
But until he went up, Dalang Yonekura had no intention of informing him of anything.
Even after hearing what he said, Taro Yonekura showed some impatience, or was somewhat reluctant to send troops to rescue the officers' observation group.
Everything that Yonekura Taro said showed that he was not willing to send troops to rescue the officers' observation group.
This seemed very abnormal to Nathan Guan.
Although Nathan Sekiguchi was not very sensitive to certain things, he also realized that there seemed to be something he did not understand.
Nathan, who had just walked out of the artillery tower, seemed to have thought of something and looked back at the top of the artillery tower with an expression of disbelief.
"No, it shouldn't be..."
When Nathan Sekiguchi thought of the possibility he had thought of, he swallowed with some worry and began to reorganize the troops according to Taro Yonekura's request.
However, Nathan Sekiguchi, who originally wanted to send a team to explore the way as quickly as possible to facilitate subsequent support to the officers' observation group, did not immediately send a team to explore the way.
Instead, let the troops prepare the ammunition and get ready to set off first. In short, make preparations slowly.
When Yonekura Dalang orders troops to support, the troops will be ready.
Even if your guess is wrong, at most you'll get scolded.
If his speculation was correct and he had prepared the troops early, the trouble would be left to Dalang Yonekura.
If I'm lucky, Pinglu Yongfu will find some excuse to dismiss me or transfer me away.
If you are unlucky, you may be killed in battle.
But if I follow Taro Yonekura's instructions completely, I might be able to take this opportunity to completely integrate into the 4th Brigade.
……
In a mountain range outside the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
"Everyone abandon the search and rush to the Dawangzhuang stronghold immediately!"
Ryota Ono, who was searching the mountains to see if there were any Eighth Route Army soldiers nearby, heard gunshots coming from the direction of Dawangzhuang and immediately gave orders to the rest of the people behind him.
Behind Ono Ryota were nearly one hundred men that Hiraru Yufu had selected from various units of the 4th Brigade to disguise themselves as bandits and prepare to attack the Officers Observation Group.
At this moment, I heard gunshots coming from the direction of Dawangzhuang.
Ono Ryota instantly realized that it was the Eighth Route Army that had attacked the Officers Observation Group, and now there was no need for them to disguise themselves as bandits and attack the Officers Observation Group.
Now they only need to launch a feint attack on the Dawangzhuang stronghold, pretending that the Dawangzhuang stronghold has been attacked and that it is unable to send reinforcements to support the officers' observation group.
So even though he hadn't received any notification from Taro Yonekura, Ryota Ono still gave orders as quickly as possible and led his troops towards the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
After all, launching an attack on the Dawangzhuang stronghold and disguising themselves as bandits to attack the officers' observation group are two completely different things.
In this unit responsible for disguising themselves as bandits, only Ono Ryota and the telegraph operator knew about the plan of Hiraru Isamu and others to eliminate the officers' observation group.
The orders received by the rest were to disguise themselves as bandits and prepare to launch a sneak attack on the Eighth Route Army.
The original plan was that if the Eighth Route Army did not launch an attack on the officers' observation group.
Then Ono Ryota received a message that the Eighth Route Army disguised as them were heading towards Tongshi Town.
Then he would lead his troops to fight against the officers' observation group halfway, and then with the assistance of Dalang Yonekura, he would directly eliminate the officers' observation group.
But in this case, when they clean up the battlefield afterwards, everyone will definitely find out that they ambushed the officers' observation group.
In order to prevent the matter from being leaked, all of them disguised as bandits will be eliminated by the support troops brought by Yonekura Dalang.
Avoid leaking the news.
But if an attack is launched on the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
It can be said that they received a false telegram from the Eighth Route Army stating that the Dawangzhuang stronghold had been recaptured by the Eighth Route Army.
That's why they launched an attack on the Dawangzhuang stronghold, trying to regain it.
After all, the Eighth Route Army did send a false telegram to the Fourth Brigade.
It's just that not many people know about this.
By then, most of the responsibility can be pushed onto the Eighth Route Army. Could it be that the North China Front Army Headquarters still wants to confront the Eighth Route Army?
Even if you confront the Eighth Route Army, would you believe what they say? But do you dare to believe it?
Do you really think that the soldiers of the 4th Brigade all have fire sticks in their hands?
Therefore, if they attacked the officers' observation group, they would surely die, but if they launched an attack on the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
At most I would be dismissed from my post. You can't shoot me just because I wanted to retake the stronghold occupied by the Eighth Route Army, and then fell into their trap and attacked their own people, right?
If this requires killing, then I don't know how many people the entire North China Front Army will have to kill.
"Sir, we received a telegram from the brigade. The Eighth Route Army sent troops disguised as our troops to seize the Dawangzhuang stronghold. The brigade commander asked us to abandon the sneak attack plan and retake the Dawangzhuang stronghold as quickly as possible!"
Just after Ono Ryota gave the order to go to the Dawangzhuang stronghold, the telegraph operator came over with a small radio on his back and spoke to Ono Ryota in a not-so-small voice.
“Bagaya road!
The Eighth Route Army was so cunning that they disguised themselves as our troops and tricked the defenses of the Dawangzhuang stronghold into breaking through and capturing the Dawangzhuang stronghold!
Pass on my order, speed up the advance, we must take advantage of the Eighth Route Army's instability to quickly recapture the Dawangzhuang stronghold!"
Ryota Ono listened to the report from the telegraph operator, pretended to be angry and hammered the ground, then ordered the troops behind him to speed up.
"Hi!"
After receiving the order from Ono Ryota, the group of Japanese soldiers disguised as bandits sped up again and rushed to the Dawangzhuang stronghold.
Prepare to retake the Dawangzhuang stronghold from the Eighth Route Army!
(End of this chapter)
