Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 665: Melee in North China

Baoding was captured, and the two major strategic points in Hebei fell into the hands of the Army Division. Together with several other troops sweeping through northern Hebei, Pingbei, Rehe, Jidong, Peiping and Tianjin were already two isolated cities.

, Tang Qiuli could choose any point to attack. The strange thing is that Okamura Neji could not have known about the loss of Baoding. He had no intention of returning to Pingjin to protect his strategic rear, and was still attacking Huang at any cost.

Yadong base.

Regarding this point, after the battle, the top Japanese military officials and the commanders of the various regiments of the ** Division all had different opinions. They generally tended to agree that Okamura Yingji would lose more than he gained by exchanging the barren Taihang Mountains for Japan's strategic rear area of ​​​​Pingjin.

, and the target Huangyadong base that they had always wanted to eliminate has not yet succeeded, allowing Tang Qiuli's troops to destroy the Pingjin area with holes, almost plundering all the resources, and destroying everything that could not be taken away.

The administrative management system that the Japanese had painstakingly established after the Tanggu Agreement was completely destroyed. Pingjin and even North China, as the strategic rear function of the Japanese army's southward advance plan, were completely lost, which had to affect the overall Japanese strategy.

, As for Okamura Neiji himself, he was very secretive about this series of battles that determined the strategic situation of China and Japan in North China, so that future generations would not be able to speculate on their own.

Since Okamura Neiji was determined to cling to Huangyadong, it was imperative to attack Tianjin. On May 3, Tang Qiuli issued an order to the attack corps to attack Tianjin, inserting an infantry brigade and a cavalry brigade.

In the Beijing-Tianjin Corridor, to monitor and block possible Japanese reinforcements from the direction of Peiping, the northwest attack group was composed of three infantry brigades from the Niangziguan Garrison Corps, three infantry brigades from the East Point Force, and three artillery brigades.

Three infantry brigades led by Yu Guanghan, chief of staff of the Sulu Mobile Corps, and equipped with three artillery brigades, formed the East Attack Group, with Tangshan as the starting point for the attack, and the Northwest Attack Group, with Baoding as the starting point for the attack, with 120,000 troops.

The troops immediately marched towards the outskirts of Tianjin and completed the encirclement of Tianjin on the evening of the third day.

At this time, the strength of the Japanese garrison in Tianjin was one full division plus one brigade, with a strength of less than 50,000. If we include the Japanese and puppet police, military special forces, and Japanese expatriates in Tianjin, the Japanese army

The available troops should reach eleven

There are about 10,000 people, which is roughly the same strength as the troops of the ** Division attacking Tianjin, but the combat effectiveness is not the same. The gap in firepower is even greater. Attack Tianjin with superior troops and superior firepower. There is no threatening enemy from outside. It seems that the outcome is not determined.

What suspense.

However, Tang Qiuli did not want to fight a conventional offensive battle. The deadline he gave to each attack group was to capture Tianjin within seventy-two hours. According to the marching speed of the Japanese army, Okamura Neji returned from the Taihang Mountains to aid Tianjin.

It will take at least five days for his vanguard to appear outside Tianjin. The extra two days are reserved for Zhou Yushan's transportation troops. This iron broom must be used to clean up the Tianjin Guards. Zhang Quan promised

The promise must be fulfilled.

When they were still members of the three brigades of the Niangziguan Garrison Corps, when they stormed Baoding, he transferred five detachments of the special operations detachment from the Taihang Mountains, and the troops of two regiments of Liu Feng's rapid reaction brigade, through the channel of the Canal Gang leader Chen Manjiang, secretly

Sneak into Tianjin and wait until the Japanese garrison commander in Tianjin gets the secret

After the news that the division's troops were approaching the border, more than 7,000 troops of the ** Division had already sneaked into the city. Soldiers from the two regiments of Tianjin's Quick Reaction Brigade, formerly known as the ** Division's Urban Combat Team, were all natives of Tianjin.

, you can tell with your eyes closed how many houses there are on that street, and the door of that house opens in that direction.

The task given to them by Tang Qiuli was to sneak into all important targets of the Japanese army in Tianjin, wait for the start of the general offensive, cause maximum chaos to the Japanese army in Tianjin, and cooperate with the inside and outside to seize the entire city of Tianjin. As for the armed forces they brought, they could not enter the city. Tang Qiuli let

They figured it out on their own. As one of the largest supply bases for the Japanese army in North China, Tianjin still lacked guns and artillery. How could it guard the arsenal with bare hands?

Tang Qiuli smiled at the half-truth and half-falsehood. The five captains of the special operations team and the two commanders of the quick reaction brigade blushed slightly and secretly cursed themselves for being stupid. They couldn't think of such a simple thing, but they asked the division commander to remind them. How embarrassing.

I looked at the commanders who led the team and left uncomfortably.

The smile at the corner of Tang Qiuli's mouth became even thicker. These guys looked down on the Japanese weapons, so they didn't think of this. Also, for all the troops in the ** division, the Suomi submachine gun was already the standard equipment. A squad had

Several 38-guns are also used as improved sniper rifles.

After completing the encirclement of Tianjin, Tang Qiuli did not launch an attack immediately. This was not because he was hesitant. He wanted to finalize Neji Okamura's actions. If the more than 300,000 Japanese troops in the Taihang Mountains retreated to Tianjin, he would have no choice but to withdraw.

Son, if Okamura Neiji is still indifferent to the loss of Tianjin, after capturing Tianjin, the hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops in Xianxian and Suning will be his next target. Therefore, Tianjin is the last touchstone.

The troops encircling Tianjin, the Northwest Attack Group, completed the encirclement of Tianjin's periphery in a covert manner. The Eastern Attack Group approached the periphery of Tianjin from the Tangshan line with great fanfare. Ninghe was the protrusion of Tianjin's Japanese perimeter defense line. Yu Guanghan's troops approached Ninghe.

After crossing the river, they encountered a stubborn resistance from the Japanese army. After a day of fierce fighting, most of the Ning River fell into the hands of the Sulu Mobile Corps.

After Yu Guanghan's troops launched an attack on Tianjin, Tang Qiuli ordered Liu Tiehan in Cangzhou to immediately coordinate the Tianjin combat operations and launch an offensive against the Japanese troops on the front line in Cangzhou, forcing them to be unable to divide their troops to reinforce Tianjin. The entire North China battlefield formed a criss-crossing pattern.

war situation.

Huangyadong, in the hinterland of the Taihang Mountains, attracted Neji Okamura's heavy-duty group of more than 200,000 troops, surrounded by troops from Sun Zhenbang's Corps and three divisions of the Eighth Route Army. In addition to the fierce fighting in Huangyadong, small-scale battles were held in various areas of the Taihang Mountains.

An incident occurred at a corner, and the troops remaining in the Taihang Mountains, according to Tang Qiuli's deployment, slowly stabbed the Japanese troops. The scale was small, but it was enough to give the Japanese troops a headache.

In Heshun City between Yangquan and Licheng, Feng Jiwu's Niangziguan garrison of more than 80,000 people surrounded more than 60,000 Japanese troops who had been without food for many days. It is estimated that in another five or six days, Feng Jiwu's troops will enter Heshun.

Cleaning up the battlefield

On the road from Licheng to Heshun, the Japanese reinforcements, one division and one brigade, totaling more than 35,000 troops, were galloping towards Heshun on a starry night. Feng Jiwu had already deployed two brigades of troops to block them along the way.

In the direction of Zhangjiakou, two infantry brigades and one cavalry brigade of the ** Division monitored more than 60,000 Japanese troops and guarded the main passage southward to prevent them from rashly moving. In the direction of Anyang, Henan, Yuan Jinghao's troops coordinated the attack on Tianjin.

According to the Tianjin battle plan, an offensive was adopted to cross the thawed Zhang River, capture Cizhou, threaten Handan, and form a confrontation with the Japanese troops on the Matou and Cheng'an lines, making it impossible for the Japanese troops in front of them to withdraw and join the Pingjin battlefield.

In the direction of Cangzhou, after the troops mobilized by Li Honggang and Han Tie arrived, Liu Tiehan's East Point Force, with a strength of more than 230,000 men, and with the cooperation of the First Division Air Force of the ** Division, launched an attack on the Japanese troops on the Cangzhou front line.

After a fierce attack, the Japanese troop strength in Cangzhou was about 250,000.

, they did not expect that the weaker Chinese army would take the initiative to attack and hastily respond to the battle. As soon as the battle began, it fell into a fierce stalemate. Neither side could withdraw from the battlefield. The weaker Liu Tiehan troops

With the cooperation of the aircraft, we have a slight upper hand.

The whole North China was filled with gunpowder smoke and turned into a pot of porridge. Yan Xishan, who was sitting in Taiyuan, began to use his brains to make plans again. Okamura Neiji gathered more than 300,000 troops and sent troops to the Taihang Mountains, which scared Chief Yan into a cold sweat. This

The Japanese came with bad intentions the next time. Tang Qiuli didn't have many troops in the Taihang Mountains, and he couldn't find anyone to support him. The Japanese finished sweeping the Taihang Mountains and moved northward. More than 300,000 Japanese, like wolves and tigers, captured Taiyuan.

It's so easy.

He hurriedly mobilized all the troops he could mobilize to the line from Wuxiang to Yushe, forming a defense line more than ten kilometers deep. Although there were more than 200,000 troops guarding the southern gate of Taiyuan for him, blocking the Taihang Mountains from entering Shanxi.

At the mountain pass of Zhongpingyuan, Yan Xishan still had no idea what kind of soldiers he had.

After Okamura Neiji's army entered the Taihang Mountains, it has been slowly advancing towards Taiyuan. Yan Xishan's heart was rising in his throat day by day. The Japanese suddenly stopped leaving in the Zuohui area, and all the troops were heading towards

Concentrate in that direction and even advance to Qin County troops,

Yan Xishan also turned around and returned. Yan Xishan didn't understand what was going on, so he sent a large number of spies to investigate the situation. He learned that the Japanese were concentrating their forces to besiege a place called Huangyadong. It was said that it was Tang Qiuli's logistics supply base. The Japanese

Bring in the huge cannon and be sure to destroy Huangya Cave.

Although Yan Xishan didn't understand why the Japanese were competing with a broken cave, he came to the conclusion that there must be something more fascinating to the Japanese in Huangya Cave than in Taiyuan. After spending many days exploring Huangya Cave, Yan Xishan's heart

, gradually fell into the stomach, it is best for the Japanese to fight in Huangyadong for a few years, so that they can save themselves troubles.

There were fighting everywhere in North China, and the Japanese were struggling to cope. Yan Xishan's thoughts came to life again. He wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit. Under this situation, the Jin army could choose two directions of attack. One was the Japanese army in Zhangjiakou.

, The second is to cooperate with the Japanese troops surrounded by Feng Jiwu. With the troops currently assembled by Yan Xishan, it will play a decisive role in which direction they invest.

If Yan Xishan really sends troops to attack any point, it will have a greater impact on the entire war situation. In the future northern pattern, Tang Qiuli, who reciprocates his kindness, will give him his due position. When Okamura Neiji attacks Shanxi,

I will spare no effort to help him, and I will never let the dignified Commander Yan run away.

It's a pity that Yan Xishan's businessman nature has gained the upper hand again. His strategy is to wait until Tang Qiuli's troops and the Japanese are both injured and exhausted, and then take action to gain the maximum at the minimum cost.

The good thing is that Yan Xishan lost all of Shanxi.

(To be continued)