………

Twenty-nine days.

It was the ninth day before the Japanese army's spring crusade ended.

Taiyuan City.

At the headquarters of the First Army stationed in Shanxi, Commander Yoshio Shinozuka was talking to the Japanese North China Front Army and the newly appointed commander-in-chief Okamura Yasuji.

As for the content of the dialogue, it revolves around the subsequent operations of the Eighth Route Army in the occupied area after the end of this spring sweep, as well as stabilizing the long-term public security of the imperial occupied area.

Especially in the northwest Shanxi area of ​​Shanxi, the spring sweep has just ended. The Eighth Route Army, especially the independent regiments mainly composed of the Eighth Route Army's Iron Triangle, the New First Regiment and the New Second Regiment, followed by the end of the big sweep and began to make a fuss and continue to launch local active military attacks.

Many strongholds around the tourist areas of the Independent Regiment, the New First Regiment, and the New Second Regiment were all sneak attacked by the Eighth Route Army.

Even the Japanese army passed through some highways outside the three regiments of the Iron Triangle and the transportation troops on the railway line were often ambushed.

A few days ago, at the headquarters' analysis meeting, Akai Kitagawa, the chief of staff of the Japanese Army's First Army stationed in Shanxi, proposed.

"It is obvious that this is the Eighth Route Army's anti-retaliation against the spring strike a week ago.

Especially the three regiments of the Eighth Route Army's Iron Triangle, they were the most rampant.

A few days ago, the New Second Regiment eliminated more than a dozen small and medium-sized strongholds outside its guerrilla zone in one fell swoop; the New First Regiment also launched a counterattack against some small and medium-sized strongholds, and ambushed the imperial transport troops several times along the way. As for this independent regiment, there were no exceptions, attacking the strongholds and ambushing the imperial transport team, and in addition, it was rapidly expanding the scope of the guerrilla zone outward.

The maintenance associations in villages controlled by our empire have been hit one after another, and the regimes used to stabilize local public security have also been destroyed by the infiltrated troops of the Eighth Route Army."

As for the situation in northwest Shanxi, even though Okamura Yasuji, who was in the North China Front Command of the Japanese Army, was far away in Peking, had also heard of it.

When Okamura Yasuji asked about the situation in Shanxi on the phone, Yoshio Shinozuka expressed deep shame.

"So Shinozuka, how do you plan to deal with the Eighth Route Army troops in the Taihang area?" Okamura Yasuji asked in plain words.

Yoshio Shinozuka was silent for a long time on the other end of the phone, and then slowly spoke: "Master-in-Chief, since the large-scale raid launched by the Eighth Route Army in August 1940, the existence of the Eighth Route Army in the occupied area has become the biggest cancer of the long-term public security of our Great Japanese Empire."

"In this spring sweep, our army returned in vain, and many problems were exposed in this battle."

"The Eighth Route Army is developing, and they are seizing time and growing themselves all the time."

"Essential forces like the Eighth Route Army Iron Triangle Independent Regiment, New First Regiment, and New Second Regiment may be just a microcosm of the Eighth Route Army. A year ago, they could use nearly 400,000 troops to launch a large-scale attack. No one can tell what scale it has now developed."

"The battle between the imperial troops and the Eighth Route Army troops is a battle between the plains and the mountainous areas, and a battle between towns and rural areas."

"The Eighth Route Army troops have a vast mass base, and with the vast mountainous areas as strategic depth, even though the equipment and soldiers are far inferior to our Great Japanese Empire, it is also extremely difficult for us to kill all the Eighth Route Army."

"At the end of the day, the Eighth Route Army has been trying to occupy the mountainous areas, open up bases, and further control the countryside, attempting to surround the major rural areas around the town and adopt a gradual siege to deal with our imperial forces."

"For the Eighth Route Army in the occupied areas, the countryside is the basis of everything they have, whether it is military or economic."

"The barren mountains cannot support a large number of Eighth Route Army troops. What they rely on can only be the vast Chinese rural areas that scattered around their land."

"If the Eighth Route Army is compared to fish, then these villages scattered in the occupied areas are water, and fish that leave the water cannot survive."

"From this perspective, we can draw a conclusion that the battle between the Empire and the Eighth Route Army and the competition between the two sides against the vast rural areas of China will determine the final outcome."

"If we can find sufficiently effective and targeted means to separate the Eighth Route Army from the vast rural areas and completely destroy the Eighth Route Army, it may not be impossible."

"So, the Commander-in-Chief, to deal with this situation, I think the next step for the Eighth Route Army should focus on the competition and control of the countryside."

Since Yoshio Shinozuka took over the First Army stationed in Shanxi, he has accumulated a lot of experience in the confrontation with the Eighth Route Army.

Yoshio Shinozuka has done quite in-depth work on the research and understanding of the Eighth Route Army unit.

On the other end of the phone, Okamura Yasuji deeply agreed with Yoshio Shinozuka's view and said: "The survival and development of the Eighth Route Army mainly relies on the vast rural areas of China, which is the essence."

After a change of topic, he continued: "Destroy the rural foundation on which the Eighth Route Army relies for survival and completely destroy the Eighth Route Army, this is also the direction we have been going.

Commander-in-Chief Tadada began to take office in early 1939, he proposed to implement a highly targeted public security rectification plan in North China, using cage policies to gradually control the vast rural areas of China, and gradually compress the Eighth Route Army's living space.

However, since the Eighth Route Army launched a large-scale raid in August last year, we should realize that the so-called cage policy has not only failed to achieve the goal of completely eliminating the Eighth Route Army, but has instead allowed the Eighth Route Army to take the opportunity to develop.

If we get to this point today, we will try to use the cage policy to deal with the Eighth Route Army, which may not be able to do so."

Okamura Yasuji has just taken office, so he is a bit of a belittled by the former commander-in-chief Shin Tada.

But this is the fact. It was precisely because he was appointed commander-in-chief of North China, Jun Tada, who was deported and replaced Okamura Yasuji in front of him.

The two people continued to talk about it.

Following Okamura Yanji's inquiry, Yoshio Shinozuka said:

In order to deal with the Eighth Route Army, the Imperial Army not only implemented a cage policy, but also implemented a three-light policy in the repeated sweeps of the Eighth Route Army, killing all the villages that dared to collude with the Eighth Route Army, and completely cutting off the rural foundation of the Eighth Route Army.

Okamura Yasuji asked, "So what's the effect?"

"This..." Shinozuka Yoshio hesitated for a moment and replied, "Don't be satisfied with the commander, even though our army implements the Sanguang policy and uses the most brutal means to completely destroy some villages supported by the Eighth Route Army."

"But from the perspective of its effect, it still treats the symptoms but not the root cause. There are still a large number of rural areas in the hands of the Eighth Route Army, and there are still a large number of Chinese people secretly helping the Eighth Route Army resist the empire. These hateful unruly people seem to be unable to kill or kill them."

Okamura Yasuji said: "Shinozuka, by controlling the struggle for the countryside, to check and balance the survival and development of the Eighth Route Army, the direction of this road is absolutely correct."

"But we also need to consider the shortcomings of the imperial forces - the scarcity of troops."

"China is too big and there are too many people. Every time we occupy a place, we do not only occupy their land, but we must maintain the original economic operation in the occupied areas, carry out military and economic plunder in a more clever way, and support our empire troops to continue fighting. Using war to support war is the general direction for us to swallow the entire China."

"In this case, it is like governing a flooded river. It is better to be diversion than blocking, it is better to be pacified than killing, it is better to be gentle than to be gentle, and it is better to be political than to be vigilant."

"We don't have so many troops to control all rural areas. As the old Chinese saying goes, it is difficult to achieve full control after pressing the gourd. If we can use gentle means to make them surrender and surrender, wouldn't that be the best way?"

Yoshio Shinozuka said in confusion: "It is very slow and difficult to implement the Huairou policy, especially in some rural areas on the edge. The Eighth Route Army often penetrates it and does ideological work for the Chinese people. After all, we are foreigners, and innately, in terms of political propaganda advantages, we are innately inferior to the native Eighth Route Army."

"How can we win over those rural areas with a gentle policy?"

Okamura Yasuji smiled and said, "It is not just a slight way to use gentle means, but a combination of hardness and softness."

"Shinozuka-kun knows that I have had many years of experience in fighting with the Anti-Japanese United Nations in the three eastern provinces."

"The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and the Eighth Route Army troops in the occupied areas are mostly in common, but the imperial troops implemented a series of policies such as congregation in the Northeast region to deal with the Anti-Japanese United Army. However, in just a few years, by last winter, all the Anti-Japanese United Army troops have basically been eliminated. This is a successful experience worth learning from."

"I've actually been wondering why a series of methods to deal with the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces cannot be used to deal with the Eighth Route Army? This may have miraculous effects."

"In addition, our army has implemented cage tactics for more than two years in North China, and it will not be abandoned."

"Continue to block the cage policy, and then return to the villages and merge some isolated villages outside the county town to carry out certain mergers and unified management, so as to concentrate our limited forces and achieve efficient control."

"In addition, the Baojia joint positioning system can be implemented in major villages. One person colluded with the Eighth Route Army, the whole village was punished, one village colluded with the Eighth Route Army, and all surrounding villages were punished, so as to cut off the Chinese people's intention to secretly connect with the Eighth Route Army."

"Those Chinese people are even free laborers. They can requisition the construction of artillery towers, roads, dig roads and trenches. The roads and trenches are dug between villages to ensure that people cannot pass through, completely cut off the connection between villages and the Eighth Route Army base areas, so as to prevent these villages from communicating with each other and secretly inform the Eighth Route Army."

...

As Okamura Yasuji's narration was revealed, Yoshio Shinozuka was even more amazed.

Only then did he realize that the newly appointed commander-in-chief seemed to have more means to deal with the Eighth Route Army than the previous commander-in-chief.

"Shinozuka, in the past, our army relied on the artillery tower stronghold, I heard that it was mainly for defense?"

"Hi, our army has limited troops, so with the help of a small amount of troops, with the cooperation of the Imperial Army, relying on the fortifications of the artillery tower, we can block the Eighth Route Army, which has backward equipment and scarce ammunition, with excellent initial results and can often separate the connection between the Eighth Route Army base area and the base area."

"What about now?"

Yoshio Shinozuka stopped talking. Now, the guerrilla areas of other Eighth Route Army units are still easy to say. This independent regiment, the New First Regiment and the New Second Regiment, the large and small strongholds outside the guerrilla area, were basically forced by the Eighth Route Army to get stuck in the stronghold and dare not show up.

Some isolated and remote artillery towers and strongholds were directly removed by the Eighth Route Army.

Okamura Yasuji said: "It's just a blind defense. The Eighth Route Army always has a way to deal with it. This is not the best strategy. You can only be beaten passively. The raid launched by the Eighth Route Army last year is proof."

"From now on, our army will turn defense into offensives. Each stronghold will send troops to patrol along the highway and railway lines every day. In addition, we will send troops to surrounding villages and villages for inspection every day."

"Hi!" Shinozuka Yoshio responded, but said a little worriedly: "Master-in-Chief, it's just that our army will easily be attacked by the Eighth Route Army troops after leaving the protection of the stronghold."

Okamura Yasuji said: "This tactic is based on the overall situation for the Eighth Route Army. I also know the situation where your First Army is located in Shanxi. After all, troops like the Eighth Route Army Northwest Iron Triangle are only a few."

"After turning defense into offensive, the general situation can cause great difficulties for the movement and assembly of the Eighth Route Army in the village."

"As for how to deal with the Eighth Route Army in northwest Shanxi, Shinozuka Junda can flexibly adjust his tactics and target them."

"Hi!" Shinozuka Yoshio responded.

Okamura Yasuji continued: "The Chinese people's military strategy emphasizes knowing themselves and their enemies, and they will never be defeated in a hundred battles. I heard that the Eighth Route Army often studied various tactics of our imperial troops."

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"At present, if we want to deal with the Eighth Route Army, we might as well study the Eighth Route Army's tactics."

"For example, the Eighth Route Army likes to avoid our firepower advantages and conduct night attacks, and our army can also engage in night attacks; the Eighth Route Army likes to disguise operations, and our army can also set up plainclothes teams to wait for an opportunity to deal with the command organs of the Eighth Route Army,"

Okamura Yasuji and Yoshio Shinozuka thought of going together.

Yoshio Shinozuka reported to Okamura Yamamoto's special agent team and the advance team's plan to infiltrate the Eighth Route Base Area, waiting for an opportunity to carry out sabotage, sneak attacks, and beheading operations.

"Yaxi!" Okamura Yasuji expressed his approval, and then asked: "I also heard that the Eighth Route Army likes to build a two-sided government in the villages under our army?"

Yoshio Shinozuka responded: "Yes, the political attitudes of the Imperial Army are not firm. After being bewitched by the Eighth Route Army, they will easily turn against each other and serve the Eighth Route Army. On the surface, they continue to fool us."

Okamura Yasuji said: "Then strengthen internal investigations and encourage each other to report anonymously. In addition, install spies and spies to find out all the two-faced figures who secretly communicate with the Eighth Route Army."

"Hi!" Shinozuka Yoshio responded.

Finally, Okamura Yasuji explained the general policy on the phone:

"If you want to deal with the Eighth Route Army, you must first fully understand the Eighth Route Army. Even if you learn from the Eighth Route Army, it is not a shame."

"Borrowing the Eighth Route Army's usual methods, three points are military and seven points are politics."

"From now on, we must adopt the Huairou policy for the villagers in the vast number of Chinese villages in the occupied area."

"How to be gentle? We have to do what the Eighth Route Army can do, and we have to do better. The Eighth Route Army helps the villagers clean the courtyards, we also help the villagers clean the courtyards, the Eighth Route Army helps the villagers carry water, we also send soldiers to help the villagers carry water, the Eighth Route Army will deliver food to the villagers, and we can also send some condolences to the Chinese people."

"In short, we must show absolute affinity to the villagers and never exert violence against those villagers who have not secretly passed through the Eighth Route Army."

"With the assistance of military forces, kill chickens and monkeys, resolutely crack down on and eliminate those unlucky people and traitors who dare to secretly communicate with the Eighth Route Army, use this to compete with the Eighth Route Army, control the countryside, and completely seize the foundation on which the Eighth Route Army relies on for survival and development..."

"Hi!" Shinozuka Yoshio responded, and wrote down what Shinozuka Yoshio said one by one.

...
Chapter completed!