Liang Jian: Lao Li, I'm really not a military expert

Chapter 614 Whenever you encounter fortifications that cannot be destroyed by artillery, immediately

Chu Yunfei called back immediately, and Li Yunlong agreed to attack Ping'an County with him, but he didn't know that Qian Bojun had leaked the news to the devils in advance. Hirata Kojiro, who learned the news, did not dare to neglect it and quickly reported the matter to Aoki Junichi, who reported the matter to the Taiyuan Command.

Upon hearing the news, Yoshio Shinozuka's face became very gloomy. He immediately called a meeting of his men to discuss the next response strategy.

"Commander, according to the intelligence we just received, Li Yunlong and his men have already contacted the headquarters. The Zhaojiayu base has been upgraded to the Northwest Shanxi Military Sub-district, and its military strength has expanded to nearly 60,000. It is already very powerful, and it will be very difficult for us to deal with it."

"Not to mention that the main force of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army has tied up half of our forces. If we fight on two fronts at the same time, the possibility of failure will be very high. The Shuiquan Oilfield is very likely to be lost. Our 12th Army absolutely cannot bear such a heavy responsibility. What we have to do now is to ask for help from the North China Front Army and the headquarters, asking them to send reinforcements on the one hand and provide us with tactical guidance on the other!"

"With the strength of my 12th Army, we can no longer cope with the current situation. If we continue to hold on here, our situation will only get worse. I don't even dare to predict what the future will be like!" Chief of Staff Ippei Mitsui said pessimistically.

Ichiro Sato remained silent on this. He had already received a transfer order. The 17th Flying Division would be transferred to the Pacific battlefield to participate in the decisive battle against the enemy fleet.

The army and navy had always disliked each other, and the naval aviation had to stay out of the matter at this time, which caused Shinozuka Yoshio's strong dissatisfaction, but he could do nothing about it. Since the Navy had made a decision, it would not care about the views of the Army, not to mention that the current output of Shuiquan Oilfield was too small, which was simply a drop in the bucket for the Navy, which drank oil like water.

In order to obtain oil, the navy had secretly traded with Lin Zhenhua before, otherwise the equipment and weapons of the Third Reich could not have been transported so smoothly. Lin Zhenhua even obtained 162 machine tools from the Japanese navy, otherwise the Zhaojiayu base would not have developed so rapidly.

After learning about several oil fields in the South Seas, the Japanese navy immediately began to exploit them. There was no particular shortage of oil at the moment. In order to ensure the safety of Japanese airspace, the Japanese navy was preparing to launch a large-scale naval battle to completely capture Midway Island and gain a strategic advantage.

This dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese 12th Army. The 17th Flying Division occupied half of the 12th Army's aviation force. The 18th Flying Division alone could not compete with the Northwest Shanxi Military Sub-district Air Force Regiment. Once the air supremacy on the battlefield was lost, the next battle would be impossible to fight. This is also the fundamental reason why Mitsui Ippei asked for help from the headquarters at the beginning.

As the third protagonist of the meeting, Fujiwara Ichiro's words were very important. After thinking for a while, he bowed and said modestly, "Commander, please forgive me for being frank. With my 18th Flying Division, we are simply unable to protect the safety of the entire Shanxi Province's airspace. This is really not me shirking responsibility. My 18th Flying Division now has only 176 combat aircraft, while our enemy has more than 260 combat aircraft. In terms of quantity alone, we are at a disadvantage."

"Although our Zero fighters are fully capable of suppressing the enemy's fighters in terms of performance, the difference in numbers will make it very difficult for us to draw a tie. The enemy's intentions are very clear. They are trying to overwhelm quality with quantity, which has brought us great trouble. Now the only thing we can guarantee is fuel, and the headquarters always shirks the replenishment of aerial bombs and fighter planes with various reasons. The bombs we have in stock can only be used for two bombings, and there are only three bases of machine gun shells for fighter battles. The situation is more serious than anyone expected!"

"If we cannot increase the number of pilots and fighters, we can only guarantee the safety near Taiyuan City at best. Even the air supremacy over Gu County will be lost. If we cannot get the second batch of ammunition within half a month, then our fighters will face the situation of having no ammunition to fire. The situation is so bad."

"Now all the Empire's support has been transferred to the Pacific battlefield, which has seriously affected the Empire's war situation in China. The enemy's action this time is very grand, and it is completely a clarion call for a counterattack. If we can't repel the enemy in time, it will be like a domino effect. First we will lose the Shuiquan Oilfield, then we will lose Taiyuan City, and finally we will lose the entire Shanxi Province!"

"According to my judgment, the enemy's next target after taking Jinshen is to attack Suiyuan, and then attack the Kwantung Army in the Northeast. Don't think I'm joking, what I said is the reality that will happen. No one expected that our enemy would develop so quickly in just two years. I have to say that the guy codenamed College Student is really scary."

"I think we should stop thinking about inciting him to rebel, but instead we should kill him as soon as possible, no matter how great the price. He is the soul of the entire Northwest Shanxi Military District. As long as we can kill him, our current unfavorable situation can be completely resolved in a short time."

Everyone present shook their heads at Fujiwara Ichiro's proposal. They had thought about killing Lin Zhenhua before, but they had never found an opportunity. Not to mention that Lin Zhenhua was always lucky and would always escape danger at the most critical moments. To deal with such a chosen one, they really had no good way to deal with him. They could only plug all the loopholes to prevent Lin Zhenhua, the cooked duck, from flying away. However, this was not something the 12th Army could do at the moment, so everyone could only sigh in despair.

Yoshio Shinozuka was very anxious. The position under him was a hot potato. He really wanted to give it away, but there was no one to take it over. The people under him did not offer any good solutions. He could only follow the advice given by Ippei Mitsui and ask for help from the base.

"Since no one has any good ideas, let the headquarters make the decision. Order all troops to strictly defend their positions. No unauthorized retreat is allowed. Even if you have to die, you must die on the battlefield!"

The Japanese headquarters, which received the telegram for help, was also very troubled this time. They never dreamed that Lin Zhenhua could come up with such a huge air force. Under desperation, they could only mobilize the Army Aviation stationed in the country to support, and also drew a part from the Kwantung Army and several other fronts to form a mixed flying division with a total of 200 combat aircraft, which will arrive at Taiyuan Airport within ten days.

In terms of the supply of ammunition, the Japanese navy did not have any difficulty this time. They transported a batch of ammunition by warships. After arriving at the port, they transported it by rail to replenish the ammunition for the Japanese 18th and 19th Flying Divisions.

Shuiquan Oilfield also increased the amount of fuel it produced, and managed to reserve half a month's worth of fuel for the Japanese, so that they no longer had to worry about fuel during the battle. The Japanese navy also felt that they had gone too far this time, so they specially transferred a batch of fuel from other places to ensure that the 18th and 19th flight divisions had a month's worth of fuel reserves, and the matter was finally settled.

At 9:6 a.m. on September 9, the army left the Zhaojiayu base and marched towards Ping'an County. The Air Force Regiment sent two fighter squadrons to escort the army. The army did not encounter any interception and arrived at the outskirts of Ping'an County before 7: p.m. on September .

The army began to set up camp in the suburbs of Ping'an County. Li Yunlong immediately sent a reconnaissance company to investigate the enemy's defenses, while Lin Zhenhua mobilized a reconnaissance aircraft team to investigate the enemy. It took nearly three hours to complete the reconnaissance operation and obtain the enemy's defense deployment.

After dinner, Li Yunlong and Lin Zhenhua called everyone to a meeting and began to issue combat tasks for tomorrow.

"Everyone, the Japanese have set up a defense line outside Ping'an County, stationed two battalions of Japanese and two puppet army corps, with a total force of about 6000 people. The garrison in Ping'an County is about 5000 people. It will be difficult for us to bite off this hard bone. Not to mention that we have built a lot of fortifications in Ping'an County before, but we didn't expect to shoot ourselves in the foot. If we want to take Ping'an County, we must first destroy the fortifications we built before."

"If it was a year ago, we would have had no choice but to sigh in despair when we encountered such a strong city. But now the situation is very different. Our heavy mortars can be used as building demolition weapons. A few shells can definitely destroy the fortifications."

"As for what to do if we encounter fortifications that we cannot destroy, it is actually very simple. Our dive bombers are not just for show. They can definitely give the Japanese a hard time. The Japanese used dive bombers to deal with us before, and now we will also let the Japanese feel the pain of being bombed by dive bombers every time."

"The armored regiment will be the main force of this attack, while the street fighting in the city will be fought by the infantry. Our armored forces will suffer heavy losses if they engage in street fighting in the city, and the street fighting can only be handled by our infantry. As long as you feel something suspicious inside a building, fire a few artillery shells first, even if it means reducing Ping'an County to ruins!" Lin Zhenhua explained with a serious face.