Although Gao Jiu had some noise in the Shanhaiguan area, the Japanese army deliberately blocked such news, and Fujita Shigeru and others were far away from the pass. Although they had heard about Gao Jiu, in their minds, Gao Jiu was just a small bandit.

When Fujita Shigeru saw Haneda as the deputy chief of staff of the North China Front Army, holding more than 100,000 heavy troops in his hand, he was so afraid of a small Taohua Mountain bandit armed force. He couldn't help but say sarcastically: "Hanida, is the great Japanese Huang Army still afraid of a small bandit?"

Chief of Staff Haneda could not explain clearly to Shigeru Fujita for a while. He said vaguely: "This Gao Jiu is different and difficult to deal with."

Shigeru Fujita said: "If your North China Front Army troops are afraid, my troops will be responsible for attacking Taohua Mountain."

Chief Haneda had already made up his mind that if the army had to attack Taohua Mountain, he wanted to let the Kwantung Army troops from outside the pass be responsible. Most of the Japanese troops in the North China Front had suffered from Gao Jiu's pain. If they asked them to attack Taohua Mountain, they would probably be reluctant. If they were timid when fighting, it would inevitably affect the course of the battle.

These Kwantung Army has never dealt with Gao Jiu, and coupled with the arrogance they have developed for a long time, they will definitely do their best when attacking Taohua Mountain without any scruples.

When General Haneda saw Shigeru Fujita's arrogant look, he wanted him to fight Gao Jiu to suffer some hardship, and just teach this guy a lesson.

He deliberately showed weakness and said, "Fujita, I have heard for a long time that the Kwantung Army is the most elite unit of the Yellow Army. Whether it can capture Taohua Mountain this time depends on you."

Fujita Shigeru said proudly: "This is not easy. It's not easy. It takes me a small Taohua Mountain to take it down in less than a day. I will command the troops to Taohua Mountain now."

At this time, there was no news from Hamada Yoshiji Hamada, and Chief Haneda did not dare to act without authorization.

He persuaded Shigeru Fujita to suspend his action. He said, "Fujita, you came from afar outside the pass and arrived in Jinan City. We must do our best to treat you well. We also want the troops outside the pass to rest for a few days, and then act with the troops."

According to the order of Doi Feiyuan, the Japanese army from the Northeast this time must accept the command of the North China Front Army. General Haneda was the commander-in-chief of the front line of this Shandong battle, and Shigeru Fujita also wanted to accept his command.

After hearing Haneda say this, Shigeru Fujita had to give up for the time being.

When Gao Jiu and others arrived at Shoucheng County, they received a telegram from the person in charge of the underground party that the Japanese troops had temporarily stopped the attack and did not know what their intentions were.

Gao Jiu looked at the map and marked the current location of the Japanese troops on it. He basically understood that the Japanese army was afraid of Taohua Mountain and had not yet made up his mind whether to attack Taohua Mountain.

Gao didn't want to cause trouble. He knew that if the Japanese attacked Taohua Mountain, it would be a tragic battle. Although the Taohua Mountain guerrillas occupied favorable terrain, there were a large number of solid fortifications and cooperation from the Air Force, after this battle, I don't know how many Taohua Mountain guerrillas were injured or sacrificed.

Gao Jiu always disliked such cruel positional warfare. If the Japanese army could not attack Taohua Mountain, the result would be better.

So Gao Jiu, Wang Zhankui and others stayed in Shoucheng County and sent a large number of special forces to monitor the operations of various Japanese troops. After they found out whether the Japanese army would really attack Taohua Mountain, they would decide whether to attack the Japanese army.

Hamada Yoshiji flew back to the country and met the Army Minister Doi Homoto, and reported his thoughts to him.

After Tu Feiyuan took over as the Minister of the Army, he was under great pressure due to the unfavorable situation of the war, especially in the Shandong direction, which suffered several setbacks. Many people in the country accused him of his ability, so he had to make some outstanding achievements to maintain his prestige. Therefore, under the pressure, he transferred two divisions and a chariot brigade from the Kwantung Army to join the battle in the Shandong direction.

Although they recaptured Tai'an City and Zaozhuang, and the maintenance of the Jinpu Railway was also underway, he knew that the underground party would not see the Jinpu Railway open to traffic. They would make a comeback sooner or later and destroy the Jinpu Railway again.

It is impossible for the Japanese army to gather such a large number of troops forever along the Jinpu Railway. When the army retreats to their respective stations, the Jinpu Railway will sooner or later be cut off by the underground party.

Therefore, this time he must completely destroy the anti-Japanese base in the Shandong Military Region to eliminate future troubles.

He knew that with Taohua Mountain in southwestern Shandong, the Taohua Mountain guerrillas would definitely cooperate with the underground party to launch a raid on the Jinpu Railway.

When the Jinpu Railway is cut off again, his wealth will become a laughing stock of the Japanese base camp.

After finally gathering so many troops, he would never stop. He must take down Taohua Mountain, destroy Gao Jiu's base in Taohua Mountain, and drive the Taohua Mountain guerrillas out of Shandong.

In the central and southern part of the Hejian, the 41st Corps of the Guo Army, with the Nanyang area as the core, has always been a major threat to the North China Front Army. Tu Feiyuan also wanted to take this opportunity to eliminate or drive away the 41st Corps entrenched in that area.

If he could achieve this series of battle goals, his reputation would have increased greatly, and those who opposed him would not be able to blame him.

Therefore, the earth and the earth cannot agree with Hamada Yoshihiro's opinion.

Doi Hoshiyuan still admires Hamada Yoshihiro very much, and he also needs Hamada Yoshihiro's support for him in the North China Front Army.

Tu Feiyuan said sincerely: "Hamada, you are an excellent senior general and you are very considerate in your consideration. I should have adopted your suggestions, but I have my difficulties,..."

Doi Hoshiyuan frankly communicated with Hamada Yoshihiro about his situation and his intentions to fight.

Although Hamada Yoshihiro thought that the idea of ​​Toehei's battle was too risky, he could not find any reason to oppose Toehei.

Hamada Yoshiji said, "Since the Minister has made a decision, Huoshi will obey him firmly."

Tuiyuan was very satisfied with Yoshihiro Hamada's attitude, so she hosted a banquet to entertain him. She also allocated a batch of strategic materials for the North China Front Army, including the equipment of a heavy artillery brigade, as well as a large number of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns to strengthen the firepower of the ground and air defense. She also specially approved the North China Front Army to give a considerable amount of funds.

Despite this, Hamada Yoshiji was under great pressure. On the way back to Peiping, he was worried and didn't know what kind of difficult situation he would face in the future.

He returned to Peking City and reported to the commander of the Gang Village on the domestic trip.

The commander of the Gang Village knew that Tu Feiyuan's decision could not be changed, and said, "Since that is the case, we should concentrate our troops and resolutely take down Taohua Mountain. Without Gao Jiu's base as Taohua Mountain, he would not be able to stay in Shandong for a long time.

In this sense, the decision of His Excellency Minister Doihara is still reasonable."

Hamada Yoshihiro nodded and said, "The Commander is very considerate, and the same is true for Huyi. Either you don't attack Taohua Mountain. If you want to fight, you must fight firmly. I suggest not attacking the 41st Corps of southwestern Shandong and the Guo Army for the time being, and concentrate your forces to take down Taohua Mountain first."

The two discussed for a while, and then sent a telegram to Deputy Chief of Staff Yu Yu, the commander-in-chief of Jinan, Shandong.

Jinan City.

General Haneda received a telegram from the North China Front Command and felt a little confused for a moment.

He knew Himada Yoshizhi very well and originally thought that he would definitely stop the Japanese army from attacking Taohua Mountain. After reading the telegram, he was still a little uncertain, so he sent a telegram to Himada Yoshizhi to ask for details.

Hamada Yoshiji told General Haneda about his return to China and meeting with Minister Toohiro, and said that this was Minister Toohiro's decision and he had no choice.

He told General Haneda that he had made up his mind to turn against Gao Jiu and showdown, he would have to go alone and conquer Taohua Mountain no matter what. As for how Gao Jiu would take revenge, he could only leave it to fate. I will talk about it at that time.

General Haneda understood the whole story, and he also knew that General Haneda's opinion was correct. Either he would not fight Taohua Mountain, and if he wanted to fight, he would definitely fight. Without this base in Shandong, Gao Jiu's influence in this generation would be greatly weakened. The Taohua Mountain guerrillas lost their local logistics supplies and their combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.

Gao Jiu's foundation is in the Golden Triangle, and I'm afraid he has no intention of staying in Shandong for a long time.

General Haneda believed that the Japanese army in Shandong had basically suffered at Gao Jiu's hands, and he was inevitably afraid, so he decided to hand over the mission of besieging Taohua Mountain to the Kwantung Army who came from afar, so that these arrogant guys would fight against Gao Jiu head-on and fight to the death.

Deputy Chief of Staff Haneda invited Deputy Chief of Staff Shigeru Fujita and said to him: "Fujita, the Kwantung Army is the most powerful force, so the base camp places you in the most important Northeast and undertakes the mission of advancing north. I deeply admire this.

To be honest, the troops of the 12th Army of Shandong are somewhat afraid of Gao Jiu, the bandits of Taohua Mountain, and their combat effectiveness is far less than that of your Kwantung Army. It is probably difficult to be competent to send them to attack Taohua Mountain. Therefore, I hope to hand over this glorious and arduous task to your Kwantung Army.

I believe that Fujita Kwan and the heroic Kanto Army will surely be able to complete this glorious and arduous task.

I will hold a banquet in Jinan City and wait for Fujita to return in triumphantly."

Shigeru Fujita was already very arrogant, and Chief Haneda's compliments made him very helpful.

He said contemptuously: "A small Taohua Mountain, if our powerful Kanto Army wants to destroy them, it is as easy as crushing an ant. Please ask Haneda to issue a formal combat order, and I personally lead the Kanto Army to capture Taohua Mountain."

General Haneda was very happy to see this guy taking the bait.

He had already thought about it. If Fujita Shigeru and the others couldn't take the Peach Blossom Mountain and were anxious, they would ask Hamada Yoshizhi to notify Gaoji, saying that it was not that they wanted to fight Taohua Mountain, but that the Kanto Army had done so after receiving the order of Tu Feiyuan. At that time, it can be said that they had advised Fujita Shigeru of Tu Feiyuan and Kanto Army, but they did not listen, so he and Hamada Yoshizhi had no choice.

Thinking of this, General Haneda felt much more relaxed.

After Fujita Shigeru left, he told Hamada Yoshiri to trick Fujita Shigeru into leading the Kwantung Army to attack Taohua Mountain by telegram.

Yoshihiko Hamada thought that General Haneda's idea was very good. Now that the Japanese army is gathering, several divisions have already arrived near Taohua Mountain, the Japanese army's campaign attempts cannot be hidden. Therefore, even if he tells Gao Jiu about the Japanese army's attempts, it is not considered a collaboration with the enemy.

Of course, Hamada Yoshihiro was very cautious in doing things. He quietly told the commander of Komura.

The commander of the Hongcun village also thought that this was safer, because no matter whether Taohua Mountain could be captured or not, it would definitely offend Gao Jiu completely. Gao Jiu would definitely take revenge in the future. Now let him notify him in advance and let him send his anger on the Kwantung Army to avoid him sending his anger on the North China Front Army.

Gao Jiu received a telegram from Hamada Yoshihiro, which said in the telegram: "Mr. Gao, I want to notify you of something. Minister Toohiyuan decided to attack Taohua Mountain. I was unable to stop his decision. I felt very sorry. I could only secretly notify the Japanese army in Shandong that they would not participate in the attack on Taohua Mountain. The mission of attacking Taohua Mountain will be the responsibility of the Kwantung Army troops from outside the pass."

In fact, Gao Jiu had already guessed this result. He also believed that since the Japanese army swept the southeastern Shandong base this time, Taohua Mountain would definitely not be spared in the southwestern Shandong base.

He also believed that the local Japanese army should not have the courage to directly attack Taohua Mountain. Therefore, it is possible that those who came to attack Taohua Mountain were the Japanese Kwantung Army troops from outside the pass.

Of course, Gao Jiu did not relax his vigilance against the Japanese army in Shandong. He notified Zhang Quan and others who were staying in Taohua Mountain to put them in a state of war.

After learning the exact news that the Japanese army was going to attack Taohua Mountain, Zhang Quan and others informed the people of the villages around Taohua Mountain, asking them to stay away from Taohua Mountain as much as possible, to temporarily seek relatives and friends, and to avoid one by one for a while.

In order to strengthen the defensive power of Taohua Mountain, the basic militias from each village also entered Taohua Mountain and participated in the defensive operations of Taohua Mountain.

In order to protect Taohua Mountain, Gao Jiu and others also spent a lot of money this time. There were also a large number of landmines among the weapons and ammunition transported from the air. In order to avoid injuring innocent people, it has not been buried yet.

When the people of the surrounding villages had been evacuated, the members of the Taohua Mountain Guerrillas began to lay mines around the mountain village.

More than 22,000 landmines of various types have been buried.
Chapter completed!