Start as a young leader, grow bigger and stronger, and create more glory

"Tell me, why did you choose to fight in southwestern Shanxi!" Xu Le asked his group of men.

All the political commissars are in place. Some of them have been assigned to various positions in the General Political Department, while others have joined combat regiments and served as political commissars of the regiments.

It is said that the system figures are awesome. The leaders of the 666th and 667th Regiments, who had not been determined before, were confirmed in just two days after the government affairs took over.

It’s not that there are no suitable people to serve as the head of the group, but those candidates do not fully support Xu Le like Liu Quanhua and others, and their political psychology is not yet completely stable.

The government officials educated these people into obedience in no time.

If Xu Le ordered these two regiment commanders to attack Taiyuan now, they would definitely roll up their sleeves and get to work, disregarding life and death just for the sake of the troops.

Xu Le suddenly felt like he was a bit like the leader of a pyramid scheme, brainwashing people into this state. However, he comforted himself in his heart that this was done by the political commissar and had nothing to do with him!

Jiang Feng explained after hearing the inquiry: "From Hejin and Jishan all the way north, then along the Fen River to the west, straight to the northern Great Wall of Shanxi Province, almost all of it belongs to the Luliang Mountains. It is 600 kilometers long from north to south and 200 kilometers wide from east to west on average. On the far left, there is the natural barrier of the Yellow River facing Shaanxi Province, and the terrain is complex.

Although the Japanese occupied all the towns within this range, due to the terrain and strategic reasons, they were unable to place their main forces in this mountainous area. This is why the guerrillas were able to grow and develop in these places, as the Japanese could not reach them at all.

Our troops are short of manpower and cannot fight on a long front in the plains, but in this mountainous area, our firepower is enough to cope with a front hundreds of kilometers long.

There are still many Tang civilians in southwest Shanxi. It will be easy for us to fight them. We can also recruit soldiers and horses after we conquer them. As long as the army is expanded, it will be much easier to advance along the Luliang Mountains to the central plains in the future!"

Xu Le: "That's fine, but if we fight like this, wouldn't it be a bit like a guerrilla force? We are a regular main force, wouldn't it be a bit of a waste?"

Liu Quanhua took up the conversation and said, "Young Marshal, why should we care about those things? As long as we can win the battle, it will take time to wipe out all the devils. Let's first occupy the mountains around Shanxi Province, and then when the final counterattack comes, we will rush in from all sides, trapping the devils in Taiyuan and leaving them with nowhere to hide!"

Xu Le was ashamed.......

He just asked the Operations Department to plan the battle in October, waiting for the arrival of new recruits while fighting to support the war, so as not to waste such good equipment.

Now that's good, the Operations Department has taken into account how to launch a comprehensive attack on Shanxi Province in the future.

"Encirclement on all sides, this combat plan is indeed very effective in Shanxi Province! But this plan is too far-reaching. In the future, we will have to launch offensives against Taiyue Mountain, Taihang Mountain, Wutai Mountain, Xizhou Mountain, Heng Mountain and other places in the eastern part of Shanxi Province, which will take a lot of time. The devils can't let us implement a large encirclement!"

Jiang Feng: "Because this is a big battle, we should act early and gradually erode the enemy-occupied areas. We just happened to occupy Pu County. If we don't move, the devils will move sooner or later. It's better for us to take the initiative and take over all the areas between Pu County and the Yellow River."

Xu Le: "We just need to fight, and leave the post-war finishing work to the National Guard and the Jin Army. Otherwise, if we send troops to garrison, even if new recruits are added, the troops will not be enough!"

Jiang Feng: "So this involves our second step of the battle. At the beginning, our 176th Division must occupy it for a period of time, after all, we need to recruit soldiers in the jurisdiction. After that, we can hand it over to the rest of the Tang army.

However, the area from Yongji County to the north was occupied by the Japanese and the transportation lines were blocked. The Tang army had no way to pass through the Yuncheng Basin and then enter the Luliang Mountains to take over the cities we captured.

So we have to take action and open up a transportation line to Yongji. I have already calculated that if we start from Xiangning and head south, we have to take down Hejin and Ronghe County, and if necessary, Lin County as well!"

Xu Le was shocked: "If that happens, we will have to break through the main defense line of the devils. I'm afraid we can't take it with our troops!"

Jiang Feng: "There is no other way. Not only must this road be opened, but it also cannot take too long!"

Xu Le: “Why?”

Jiang Feng: "Although our returning team was able to safely pass through the enemy-occupied area and return to the rear, it was because the team was small in size and could avoid the enemy's reconnaissance if they were careful.

But the troops that the Acropolis has recruited will arrive at the end of the month. There are tens of thousands of them, and they are poorly equipped. If we don’t open a path, it will be difficult for them to enter the mountains and join us!”

Liu Quanhua spoke again. He personally confirmed the routes for the returning team, so he had the most say: "Yes, those routes are safe, but they cannot accommodate large troops. This is only the first batch of troops. There will definitely be more troops transported to the front in the future. It is necessary to open a safe passage!"

All officers above regimental level attended the meeting, including four regimental commanders and political commissars, as well as two brigade commanders and brigade chiefs of staff.

Everyone also discussed with each other and thought about how to open up this road.

Xu Le also began to think that no matter how the Operations Department planned, the final implementation would have to be approved by him.

"In this case, let's just combine these two steps of combat operations. In addition to strong firepower, another advantage of our troops is strong mobility. If we have to fight, we can use blitzkrieg and give the Japanese no time to react.

We will attack the remaining cities after opening up the traffic lines. This way, our military forces can be used reasonably and not be stretched to the limit!

"This is acceptable!"

"This is the best!"

"Then let's do it!"

...

Many people responded that although the terrain of the Luliang Mountains was complex, fortunately there were roads connecting many counties, so a blitzkrieg could be fought. It was just that clearing out the surrounding strongholds would be a bit more troublesome, and at best it could be done with semi-mobile or pure infantry.

"Well!"

After another moment, Xu Le stood up and said, "Then issue the combat order now. There are only Xiangning and Jixian in the southwest of Pu County. They are in a dead end. The 388th Regiment of the 666th Brigade will lead the attack, and the 667th Regiment will assist in clearing the surrounding strongholds to eradicate all the Japanese forces!

No matter what Xiangning's status is, the Japanese will certainly not sit idly by and will definitely send reinforcements. There are no troops that can be mobilized in southwestern Shanxi, and the Japanese reinforcements can only be transferred from the Tongpu Line.

The Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain was over, but many Japanese troops had not yet withdrawn. They would probably take this opportunity to march westward from Linfen and Quwo to provide support.

Pu County was the only way for the Japanese to pass through, so the 664th Regiment temporarily withdrew its defense line, and the 665th Regiment cooperated with sniper support to defend Pu County.

As for the reinforcements in the direction of Quwo, they can only go west from Xinjiang, and then advance northward into the mountains after reaching Hejin. This road is not easy to travel, and it is difficult given the Japanese's mobility. The 388th Brigade must fight and advance at the same time!

The specific tasks of each battalion and company will be determined by you, but remember one thing: this is a battle on the territory of the Tang Dynasty. Especially when attacking a city, try to avoid accidentally injuring civilians!

At the same time, tank troops will also be dispatched to cooperate with the two brigades in combat!"

........