Late that night, Miyake Toshio and his group of more than 30 people fled back to Mingguang County in the wind and snow. At first, the puppet soldiers guarding the city gate in Mingguang County did not believe it. It was not until the military police captain of Mingguang County arrived after hearing the news that they recognized Miyake Toshio. He took Miyake Toshio and his party back to the military police, and urgently reported to the Central China Dispatch Army Headquarters.
When Higashikanomiya Nurihiko received the telegram, he was discussing the blockade with Itagaki Seishiro.
The initial idea of Higashijiurigong Nianyan was to directly transfer the Second Army from Wuhan to Nanjing to be responsible for the task of blockading the Damei Mountain area. However, in the end, the base camp still lost the opinion of Higashijiurigong Nianyan and ordered the second army. The Second Army was still stationed in Wuhan, and then a separate Twelfth Army was formed in Nanjing.
This Twelfth Army was specially used to blockade the Damei Mountain area.
The Twelfth Army has four divisions and four independent mixed brigades.
These four divisions are the Third Division stationed in Nanjing, the Fifth Division stationed in Yangzhou, the Sixth Division stationed in Feicheng, and the 101st Division stationed in Bengbu! The four independent mixed brigades are the 11th independent mixed brigade stationed in Chaohu, the 12th independent mixed brigade stationed in Huainan, the 13th independent mixed brigade stationed in Tianchang and the 10th independent mixed brigade stationed in Xuyi. Four Brigades.
These four divisions plus four independent mixed brigades will form a tight blockade on Dameishan Mountain. No matter which direction the Dameishan Independent Regiment launches an offensive, it will be supported by the other three directions. Once this After the blockade was formed, the Dameishan Independent Regiment was basically confined within its current sphere of influence, that is, Meixian, Puxian, Shanxian and Guanxian. These four counties have now completely become the sphere of influence of the Dameishan Independent Regiment.
The newly appointed Chief of Staff of the Twelfth Army, Aoki Shigemai, was pointing at the map to explain the latest progress of the Twelfth Army to Higashikanomiya Nagihiko and Itagaki Seishiro.
"Excuse me, Your Excellency, Commander." Aoki Shigesei first bowed his head to Higashinonomiya Nurihiko and Itagaki Seishiro respectively, then pointed at the map with a bamboo stick and explained, "As of yesterday, all four independent mixed brigades have entered In the designated defense area, the Third Division and the 101st Division have also been adjusted and deployed. The Fifth Division was originally resting in Yangzhou, but the Sixth Division may not be able to deploy in a short time.
"
Dong Jiure Gong Nianyan waved his hand and said: "The Sixth Division is not in a hurry."
The Sixth Division couldn't rush even if it wanted to, because in the second mopping up operation, the Sixth Division had completely crippled the Dameishan Independent Regiment. Not only the four infantry regiments were completely destroyed, but also the division headquarters. The directly affiliated cavalry, baggage, field artillery and engineer regiments were also completely destroyed. Only the division commander Naosaburo Okabe led a small number of personnel from the division headquarters to break out with the support of the independent 13th Brigade.
In view of this, if the Sixth Division wants to rebuild and restore its combat effectiveness, it will have to be a long process. A conservative estimate is that it will take at least half a year, or even longer! Because the personnel are okay, Kumamoto Prefecture has a lot of reserves and reservists, but the replenishment of weapons and equipment, especially heavy equipment, cannot be so fast.
"Hai." Aoki Shigesei paused heavily, and then continued, "But Your Highness, if the Sixth Division cannot be deployed in time, a very large gap will be left on the west side of the entire blockade. The Meishan Independent Regiment can completely obtain supplies in short supply through the Western Front, and the blockade in the other three directions will be in vain."
"Will it leave a gap on the Western Front? Will the Dameishan Independent Regiment be able to obtain material supplies through the Western Front?" Higashikanomiya Niguhiko exchanged a look with Itagaki Seishiro, and then laughed and said, "Aoki-san, you I’m afraid we are overly worried, and what we have left on the western front of Dameishan may not be a gap, but a time bomb.”
"Nani? Is it a time bomb?" Aoki Shigemagi was confused.
Higashikata Niguhiko said: "Yes, this is a time bomb."
Itagaki Seishiro also said: "Aoki-san, haven't you ever paid attention to the transformation of Feixi?"
"Feixi Incident?" Shigemagi Aoki was confused when he heard this. He had never heard of the Feixi Incident.
Itagaki Seishiro slapped his forehead and said: "I forgot, Aoki-san, you have just been transferred to Nanjing, so it is understandable that you don't know about the Feixi Incident.
"
At that moment, Itagaki Seishiro told the whole story of the Feixi Incident.
After Itagaki Seishiro finished explaining, Higashikanomiya Nurihiko asked: "Aoki-san, did you find anything from this?"
"Hai." Aoki Shigesei paused and said, "From the Feixi Incident, we can find that although the Kuomintang and the Communist Party have not officially broken up, in fact, as the imperial army ended its offensive on the frontal battlefield, the honeymoon period between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party In fact, it is over, and frictions like the Feixi Incident will definitely continue to occur."
"Suoga." Dong Jiure Gong Nianyan said, "So, we can definitely take advantage of this contradiction between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and unite the Kuomintang army in the Dabie Mountains to blockade the Dameishan Independent Regiment. I think, whether it is the Kuomintang army or the The higher-ups, including the senior generals of the 32nd Group Army stationed in the Dabie Mountains, will be happy to cooperate with the Imperial Army."
"So." Itagaki Seishiro continued, "Not only is it impossible for a gap to appear on the western front, it may become the direction with the tightest blockade. As long as we do a good job in blockading the other three directions, we can completely trap the Dameishan Independent Regiment. If he dies in the Damei Mountain area, it can take as long as one year or as little as six months, and the Damei Mountain Independent Regiment will run out of ammunition and food!"
Aoki Shigemao said: "But, Your Highness, if we want to completely blockade such a long blockade from Bengbu to Xuyi, from Xuyi to Tianchang, from Tianchang to Yangzhou, and then from Yangzhou to Pukou and Chaohu, just a few points can't blockade it." However, if the border cannot be completely sealed, the Dameishan Independent Group can completely carry out smuggling trade by moving ants. If this is the case, the Dameishan Independent Group may not have an easy life, but it is difficult to trap them to death. Extremely difficult.”
The so-called ant moving is to use individual smuggling to transport supplies bit by bit to the base area.
In real history, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army broke the Japanese blockade in this difficult way, and finally survived extremely tenaciously.
"Aoki-san, what you said is to the point." Higashi Jiugong Nianyan said happily, "You have just been transferred from the North China Front Army. How did your North China Front Army specifically operate when it blocked the Eighth Route Army?"
Aoki Shigemai was originally the deputy chief of staff of the North China Front. The reason why Higashikawa Niguhiko specially transferred him from the North China Front was to learn from some of the practices of the North China Front in the operation to blockade the Eighth Route Army.
Aoki Shigemao said: "The approach of the North China Front can be summed up in twelve words: railways are pillars, roads are chains, and bunkers are locks! We have built a large number of large and small towns, stations, bridges, and tunnels along railways and highways. Strongholds, and blockade trenches must be dug between all strongholds, and roads must be built outside the blockade trenches. Troops will then be stationed at each stronghold. A large comprehensive stronghold will be built at regular intervals, and at least one infantry brigade will be stationed in the large stronghold. Mobile forces so that if a small nearby stronghold is attacked, reinforcements can be sent in at any time.”
After a pause, Aoki Shigemako added: "In this way, we have completely blocked the communication between the various units of the Eighth Route Army, and the security situation in North China has been greatly improved."
"Yo Xi." Itagaki Seishiro said, "Can we move this plan to Central China?"
"Of course there is no problem in moving here." Shigemako Aoki said, "But this requires the cooperation of the Imperial Army, and it also requires the full support of the Imperial Association Army, especially the Restoration Government. Without the cooperation of the Imperial Army, it would be impossible to defeat so many people. It is basically impossible to garrison strongholds, and without the cooperation of the reform government, it would be difficult to build so many strongholds and blockade trenches."
"That's no problem." Dong Jiu'er Palace Nianyan said, "Those people in the reform government, I think they only know how to play mahjong and hold dance parties all day long. They have a lot of leisure time. We should find some serious things for them to do. ." After a pause, Dong Jiuregong Nianyan said in a bad tone, "I think we should not rush to prepare for the reorganization of the reform government now. Let the reform government build the blockade around Damei Mountain first. .”
"Hai." Itagaki Seishiro paused and said, "I will convene the relevant officials of the reform government tonight to discuss the construction of strongholds around Damei Mountain and the blockade ditch." After saying this, After a pause, Itagaki Seishiro said again to Aoki. Cheng said, "Aoki-san, it's up to you to take charge of this matter."
"Hai." Aoki Shigemagi paused heavily.
While the three of them were talking, Itagaki Seishiro's adjutant Togo Kota suddenly strode in, paused and reported: "Your Highness, Your Excellency the Commander, you have just received an urgent telegram from the 101st Division from Bengbu, saying that they are not here. By five minutes ago, the division commander of the Osaka Division, General Toshio Miyake, had led his troops to break through and arrived in Mingguang County."
"Nani?" Higashikawa Miyazaki suddenly stood up and said, "Toshio Miyake is not dead yet?"
"Hai." Togo Kota paused and said, "General Miyake Toshio was only slightly injured, but his life is not serious."
Itagaki Seishiro immediately stood up and said: "Your Highness, since Toshio Miyake is not dead yet, we should immediately report this news to the base camp and ask the base camp to suspend the selection process of the 104th Division Commander. After this raid, Therefore, the fault lies with Kawabe Shozo and Miyake-san was not at fault for the failure.”
For the failure of this sweep, Kawabe Shozo has already taken all the blame, so division commanders like Toshio Miyake, Naosaburo Okabe and other division commanders do not have to be responsible for this. In fact, the reason why this sweep ended in a disastrous defeat is also It was indeed caused by Masami Kawabe's insistence on going his own way and had nothing to do with Toshio Miyake and Naosaburo Okabe. (To be continued.)