Chapter 298 The political commissar’s plan is to dig a river again?
(water)
The political commissar was drawing lines on the map with a pencil. He redrawn the map based on the traces left by the boss and Brigade Commander Chen, then pointed to Gucheng County, which was located in the northeast of Ping'an County, and spoke.
“Although the Japanese’s 11th Brigade is a mule-and-horse-based unit, it still has a large number of heavy weapons.
If the Japanese 11th Brigade wanted to carry those heavy weapons to support Ping'an County, they had to pass through Gucheng County.
If we go through mountainous areas, then those heavy weapons, especially those mountain cannons, cannot be towed during the march.
Although it seems to be much closer to go through the mountainous area, the mountain road is rugged and the actual distance is longer than going through Gucheng County.
It could only be carried on the backs of mules and horses. Even if the Japanese were willing to do anything, it would still take nearly twenty hours for the mules and horses to carry the artillery over the mountains and across the hills, regardless of their lives.
It also takes a lot of time to disassemble and reassemble the artillery.
There would be no problem during normal times.
However, if emergency support is needed, going through the mountainous areas will not work.
Moreover, this is the time required without any obstruction.
Apart from anything else, even if the New Second Regiment was sent to carry out a blocking mission, it would not cause much damage to the Japanese reinforcements in the mountainous area.
The New Second Regiment only needs to kill as many mules and horses as possible of the Japanese reinforcements. Without enough mules and horses, the Japanese will not be able to bring those heavy weapons into the Ping'an County area.
Moreover, there are many cliffs and highlands in the mountainous areas here. If the mules and horses are frightened, they can easily run around and rush off the cliffs.
Without mules and horses, even if the Japanese used manpower to transport supplies and heavy weapons, how many people could they gather for the transportation?
Moreover, with such a long distance, after the Japanese 11th Brigade transports enough supplies and heavy weapons to the Ping'an County area, how much combat effectiveness will the troops have left?
After nearly twenty hours of long and intensive march on mountain roads, everyone would be exhausted to death.
If they don't carry heavy weapons... without heavy weapons support, the Japanese 11th Brigade will be coming here to die. The Japanese with heavy weapons and the Japanese without heavy weapons are two different things.
Without sufficient heavy weapons and sufficient supplies, even the New Second Regiment would be unable to fight the Japanese head-on.
Therefore, the Japanese reinforcements coming from Shuiquan and other directions would definitely not be able to go through this mountainous area.
If you want to quickly support Ping'an County, you must go through Gucheng County.
The area between Gucheng County and Shuiquan is a plain with open land and convenient road transportation.
The Japanese can use a large number of trucks to first send the troops to Gucheng County, and then set out from Gucheng County to Ping'an County.
Although Gucheng County is a place that is easy to attack but difficult to defend, it is always better to have a city to defend than to have no city to defend.
With Gucheng County in the rear, the Japanese could transport the necessary supplies to Gucheng County first.
Then the troops will not need to carry a large amount of supplies, they only need to carry enough ammunition, and any shortage can be transported from Gucheng County to Ping'an County at any time.
So if I were the Japanese, I would definitely choose Gucheng County as a transit point and then support Ping'an County.
Brigade Commander, Boss, do you agree with this view?"
After the political commissar finished speaking, he looked up at the brigade commander and the general manager and asked them whether they agreed with his speculation.
The general and Brigade Commander Chen looked at the place where the political commissar pointed. After looking at the mark on the map, they understood the political commissar's thoughts.
"I see... What you mean is that the focus of this battle is not the Zhangzhuang stronghold, but the Japanese reinforcements from Shuiquan, the 11th Brigade, right?"
Brigade Commander Chen glanced at the general, then said to the political commissar.
The political commissar listened to what Brigade Commander Chen said and nodded, then spoke.
"That's what I mean... Boss, Brigade Commander, when I first discussed this with you, the focus was also on the Zhangzhuang stronghold.
But I just thought about it, the reason why we need to quickly capture the Zhangzhuang stronghold is because we are worried about the Japanese reinforcements from Shuiquan, right?
If that is the case, then why not focus directly on the Japanese reinforcements from Shuiquan?
Indeed, it would be easier to attack Ping'an County if we could capture Zhangzhuang stronghold as soon as possible.
However, if we can block the Japanese reinforcements coming from Shuiquan, then we will have enough time to attack Ping'an County.
So I think the focus of this battle is not in Zhangzhuang stronghold, but in Gucheng County!
As long as the Japanese reinforcements coming from Shuiquan can be blocked in Gucheng County, the strength of the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment will be enough to capture the county seat of Ping'an County!
As long as we take over the county seat of Ping'an, the Japanese reinforcements from Shuiquan will still be in Gucheng County. If the Japanese reinforcements choose to continue the attack, the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment will have sufficient troops to engage in a field battle with the Japanese reinforcements from Shuiquan!
At that time, unless the Japanese wanted to start a war in advance, they would never allow the reinforcements coming from Shuiquan to fight to the death with the Independent Regiment and the Vanguard Regiment.
If they chose to fight to the death, even if the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment were completely wiped out, they would definitely be able to completely destroy the Japanese 11th Brigade.
We can afford to replace the Japanese 11th Brigade with the Vanguard and Independent Regiments!"
When the political commissar finished speaking, a trace of pity flashed in his eyes.
This is how war is. No matter how much you care for your soldiers, when the time comes that a soldier must sacrifice, you must let him die, even if it means sending him to death!
When it is time to cut, cut it; otherwise there will be chaos!
If you are indecisive and care about the death of soldiers, it will only bring greater casualties to the soldiers!
There is no such thing as a war without casualties. Even as strong as the Vanguard Regiment, Qin Yangming's love for his soldiers is well-known throughout the Eighth Route Army.
In order to prevent the soldiers from making fearless sacrifices, Qin Yangming specially added a large amount of automatic firepower to the troops.
Qin Yangming's words that if a battle can be resolved with artillery shells and bullets, the soldiers must not be allowed to charge caused a huge stir.
Many Eighth Route Army officers believed that the Pioneer Regiment's ammunition consumption was too great. The amount of ammunition consumed by a regiment-level unit of the Pioneer Regiment in one battle could be said to be several times or even dozens of times that of other troops.
Many troops that were short of ammunition requested that their superiors allow the Vanguard Regiment to save bullets and send the saved bullets to other troops that were even more short of ammunition.
There are many times when the Vanguard Regiment would obviously save ammunition but still resorted to bombardment.
Many cadres have some opinions on this matter.
It is not targeting the Vanguard Regiment, although everyone knows that the Vanguard Regiment's spoils are always huge and they will hand over a lot of them.
However, the Vanguard Regiment’s ammunition consumption was too horrific. Many cadres said, if the Vanguard Regiment lost such powerful firepower, could it still fight a tough battle?
The boss and others also mentioned this to Qin Yangming, but Qin Yangming directly responded with one sentence.
"I have handed over most of the supplies I seized. War is supposed to be a quick battle. The faster the battle ends, the more spoils we will capture.
The Vanguard Regiment did not ask for any support from their superiors. Instead, they handed over a large amount of captured weapons and also provided a lot of equipment to the brother unit (the New First Regiment).
In general, the core of Qin Yangming is to put the lives of soldiers first, and consume a lot of ammunition to reduce the sacrifice of soldiers. But Qin Yangming loves his soldiers to such an extent that he still does his own thing despite such great pressure.
(Other troops have ten bullets per person, and the new recruits of the Vanguard Regiment have more than ten bullets during training. Under this circumstance, other troops will definitely have opinions, especially some troops that fight tough battles but cannot capture spoils of war.
For example, the scene in Bright Sword where Li Yunlong wanted to capture someone.)
But what? The vanguard still needs to charge when it is time to charge, and the troops still need to take on tough tasks when it is time to take on tough tasks.
How many soldiers did Qin Yangming initially bring out from Duanjiaao?
Therefore, when the time comes for troops to sacrifice, senior officers must never be indecisive and refuse to allow soldiers to sacrifice because of their love for the soldiers.
The political commissar's idea was very simple. He wanted to block the Japanese reinforcements coming from Shuiquan in Gucheng County. Once Ping'an County was captured, the independent regiment and the vanguard regiment would immediately move to the vicinity of Gucheng County.
If the Japanese reinforcements do not retreat, the independent regiment will engage in a field battle with them.
If the Japanese do not withdraw their troops, it means that they intend to start a war ahead of time.
At that time, the Independent Regiment and the Pioneer Regiment will be responsible for holding off the 11th Brigade that comes to support the Japanese.
At present, in the entire Shanxi Province, the only mobile forces that the Japanese can mobilize are the 20th Division, the half-crippled 9th Brigade, and the 11th Brigade.
Among them, the 20th Division has to take on part of the Taiyuan garrison mission and cannot be easily mobilized.
When the 9th Brigade was supporting the 4th Brigade, there was chaos during the retreat, and the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the opportunity to beat the 9th Brigade half to a pulp, leaving behind a large number of heavy weapons.
Therefore, at present, the only force that can be mobilized for support at any time in the eastern half of Shanxi is the 11th Brigade.
If the Japanese choose to let the 11th Brigade continue the attack, there is no doubt that the Wutaishan Military Region will be able to move south and launch an attack on Shuiquan immediately.
Even without the 11th Brigade, it would not be a problem for the Wutaishan Military Region to capture Shuiquan.
Once Shuiquan is captured, the 11th Brigade will become the meat in the pot.
Even if the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment were completely wiped out, the Taihang Military Region could work together with the Wutai Mountain Military Region to completely wipe out the 11th Brigade, which had been half-killed by the Independent Regiment and the Vanguard Regiment.
With the combat effectiveness of the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment, even if the Japanese 11th Brigade could annihilate the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment, how much combat effectiveness and ammunition would be left?
Especially after Shuiquan, a large rear base, was taken over by the Wutai Mountain Military Region.
The Japanese 11th Brigade had to either abandon all its heavy weapons and retreat into the Taihang Mountains or fight guerrilla warfare with the Eighth Route Army to delay time.
Or they would be wiped out on the spot by the Eighth Route Army.
Otherwise, there is no choice.
Although there are two choices, in fact both choices are dead ends.
One dies slowly, the other dies quickly.
Retreat into the Taihang Mountains and fight guerrilla warfare with the Eighth Route Army?
The Japanese will only die a more miserable death.
As for breaking out?
How to break out? Where to break out?
After listening to what the political commissar said, the boss was silent for a moment, then pointed to the two rivers on the map and spoke.
"So, Political Commissar Wang, what you mean is to breach the banks of the Dongzhang River and the Song River, and then divert the two rivers to eventually flood the entire Gucheng area?"
The boss pointed at the river on the map and looked at Political Commissar Wang.
The boss also understood what Political Commissar Wang meant.
Both he and Brigade Commander Chen focused their attention on the Zhangzhuang stronghold, although they also considered blocking the Japanese reinforcements coming from Shuiquan.
But the most important stronghold is Zhangzhuang.
After all, the combat effectiveness of the New 2nd Regiment, which was responsible for blocking the Japanese reinforcements coming from Shuiquan, was limited, and they could only use the terrain between Ping'an County and Gucheng County to block the Japanese reinforcements step by step.
If we were to stop the Japanese 11th Brigade in Gucheng County, even if we mobilized the entire New 2nd Regiment, we might not be able to stop it for two hours.
There are open areas over there. With the combat effectiveness of the New 2nd Regiment, how can they fight against the Japanese 11th Brigade in the field?
The only way to stop the Japanese reinforcements in Gucheng County, or to delay the Japanese reinforcements from arriving in Gucheng County and then send troops from Gucheng County to support Ping'an County, while minimizing casualties and not requiring much manpower, is to do so.
only one.
The embankments of the Dongzhang River and the Song River next to Gucheng County were dug up, and the water from the two rivers was diverted directly into Gucheng County along the Taihang Mountains.
Gucheng County is located at the junction of the Loess Plateau and Yizhong Plain.
Both rivers are located on the plateau and flow from northwest to southeast.
If the embankments of the two rivers were dug up and the direction of the rivers were changed, so that the water from the two rivers rushed into Gucheng County along the terrain, the water from the two rivers would be enough to wash away Gucheng County and the open areas around it.
Some of them are similar to the methods used by Li Yunlong to attack Qinghe County.
However, when attacking Qinghe County, Li Yunlong only dug up the dam. In addition, the terrain was relatively gentle, and after the river water washed through, he only needed to take advantage of the reduced water flow to quickly repair the dam, and then the river water could flow back into the original river channel.
Or it would not be a big problem to simply change the river's course. Since there is the old river channel, it can still flow back into the Yellow River. Besides, there are not many people in Qinghe County, so there will not be any major consequences.
But the situation in Gucheng County is different.
The area around Gucheng County is all high-quality farmland. Moreover, it is located at the junction of plateau and plain, and there are no old river channels to divert river water.
Once the embankments of the two rivers are dug up, it means that the river water will be completely changed and there will be no chance of repair.
The location of the county seat of Gucheng County happens to be a low-lying area. If the two rivers change their course, the entire county seat of Gucheng County will be completely submerged by the river water, although it will take a long time to re-flood Gucheng County.
However, the river suddenly changed its course from the plateau to flow directly to the plain. Without any buffer, the kinetic energy carried by the river was enough to flood the large open area between Gucheng County and Shuiquan.
And that open land is all farmland, which will be harvested soon.
If the water is released and floods the land, all the farmland will be destroyed.
This method can indeed prevent the Japanese reinforcements from Shuiquan from using Gucheng County as a bridgehead to support Ping'an County.
But at the same time, it also eliminated the Eighth Route Army of the Taihang Military Region from using Gucheng County as a bridgehead to attack Shuiquan.
The muddy road could restrict the Japanese invaders, and it could also restrict the Eighth Route Army.
(End of this chapter)
