Snow Leopard: Building the Strongest Elite Group through Robbery

Chapter 1033 That depends on the General Staff's decision.

Thanks to the propaganda team's efforts, many people from the county town have already left.

Of course, there were still some people who did not leave. Zhou Weiguo asked them why, and after learning that they were reluctant to leave their homeland, he said nothing more.

"How about I arrange for someone to try and persuade him?" Wang Yun said, stepping forward after seeing Zhou Weiguo standing silently under the eaves after hearing the situation.

Zhou Weiguo glanced at Wang Yun, then took a cigarette from Ruth, lit it, and said, "No need. Good advice is useless to someone who's looking for trouble."

This place has never been occupied by the Japanese army, and the Japanese army has never even visited this place before. For the people here, life and war are both very close to them and very far away.

No matter how much you try to persuade them, they might still think you're trying to scam them, so Zhou Weiguo decided not to try anymore.

The best way to persuade them is to let the Japanese bomb the place a few times. Once it's bombed a few times, the people will leave without any persuasion, and they will leave faster than anyone else.

When Zhou Weiguo came to the county town, he only brought the Third Regiment, the Special Service Battalion, and the Tank Company. This was his mobile force. In addition, there was another force, a regiment of the Guangxi Army, which was positioned in the middle of the county town and the front line, tasked with receiving and blocking the Japanese army.

"Brigadier, should we build defensive fortifications in the city?" Xu Hu asked Zhou Weiguo.

Zhou Weiguo turned around and returned to the command post. After looking at the map of the county town for a moment, he said, "Most of the houses in the town are wooden. There are quite a few people living in the town now, so it's not convenient for us to remove the roof tiles. We shouldn't deploy defenses in the town for the time being."

In defensive warfare, Zhou Weiguo's biggest fear was street fighting in the county town. The alleys were narrow, and there were too many explosives. Any bomb that fell from the broken tiles would maximize its threat. In addition, the echoes of artillery shells were too loud, and the shock waves and explosions would be amplified.

Many people will die then.

He did not intend to engage in street fighting with the Japanese army unless absolutely necessary, nor did he want to fight a defensive war like a death knell with them.

If he's going to fight, he'll fight on the outskirts. If he really wants to fight in the county seat, he won't leave too many troops behind.

"No need for deployment," Zhou Weiguo said, waving his hand. "Just have the Fourth Regiment and the Special Service Battalion build defensive fortifications outside the city."

After Zhou Weiguo finished speaking, Fang Shengli added to Xu Hu: "Let me add something. We need to tell the soldiers that the Japanese army hates us to the bone. What we will encounter is the attack of the most elite Japanese army and even the Kwantung Army, as well as a large number of Japanese air troops. Brothers, please work hard and make sure that the trenches can withstand the attack of Japanese bombers and heavy artillery."

"Understood." Xu Hu replied and turned around. Zhou Weiguo, who was sitting in a chair, suddenly noticed that Takeshita Shun had changed into casual clothes, and the others were dressed the same way.

He tossed the cigarettes off the table and asked, "Leaving?"

Takeshita Shun sighed; “The Japanese army’s supply line is too short, which makes it inconvenient for me to move around, but I can’t do nothing, so I’ll go and wander around their rear.”

Zhou Weiguo said "Oh" and then waved his hand.

He was already familiar with Takeshita Shunyasu, so there was no need to say anything like "take care" or "be safe." He believed that since they both had families, Takeshita wouldn't really go to his death, no matter how crazy he was. Besides, under Ono's influence, he had changed a lot.

"Awen." Xiao Ya walked over with a telegram and handed it to Zhou Weiguo. "We intercepted the telegram from the Japanese First Army to the North China Area Army. In the second battle, we launched a fierce attack on the forces under the command of the Japanese First Army. The two sides even engaged in a fierce artillery battle. In addition, according to the news, Yan Xishan seems to have personally arrived at the front line to command."

Humph……

After reading the telegram, Zhou Weiguo snorted coldly, "At least he can tell right from wrong."

"I thought he would still hold back his strength," Asaka Shurei said with a smile, glancing at the telegram.

Wang Yun, being a member of the Central Daily News, knew quite a bit of gossip. Therefore, she knew that those at the Second War Zone Command prioritized preserving their strength. But this time…

"That's not right. Based on what we know about him, he shouldn't be attacking so aggressively."

A fierce artillery battle ensued, and the two sides also engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Hand-to-hand combat—this kind of thing might be common in other places, but it happened in the Jin-Sui Army.

Of course, Wang Yun didn't mean to look down on them. There were still passionate men in the Jin-Sui Army; it's just that they were soldiers, and often had to follow orders from above.

“I don’t understand.” Zhou Weiguo smiled and pointed to the map. “Even if the Fifth War Zone is strong, it can’t withstand the attack of so many Japanese divisions. If we lose here, the Fifth War Zone’s forces will move south. The further south they go, the more concentrated our forces will become, and the more difficult it will be for the Japanese to attack. At that time, they may change their direction of attack.”

Changing the direction of attack, Shen Xin seemed to understand something and said, "They'll attack the Second War Zone from the side."

“That’s only natural.” Zhou Weiguo crossed his arms. “Old Xi has been a local tyrant for so many years. How could he allow his territory to be taken over? After all, he knows very well that if he is driven out of Shanxi, his life will not be easy.”

There's already an example. Think about the Northeast Army of the past. Hundreds of thousands of them entered the pass, but what happened? They scattered to the east and west, and now there's almost no Northeast Army left. The old man used various reasons to divide them or cancel their designations.

He's a smart man; how could he possibly allow something like this to happen?

If you don't want to, then you have to work harder. Although you will likely suffer heavy losses this time in holding back the Japanese army, as long as the Fifth War Zone is secured, your right flank will also be secured.

"It seems he's quite the shrewd strategist," Wang Yun remarked with a smile.

Zhou Weiguo sat down beside him; "If he couldn't scheme, he wouldn't be Yan Laoxi."

If someone who has been a local tyrant for decades couldn't even handle this much, his men would have already torn him to pieces.

Fang Shengli, who was standing to the side, became interested. He looked at Zhou Weiguo, who felt uncomfortable under his gaze and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? If you have something to say, just say it."

Fang Shengli approached him and thought for a while before asking, "I want to know, if he still refuses to deploy troops this time, just like before, what will you do?"

Fang Shengli didn't want to know what the General Headquarters would do, but he did want to know what Lao Zhou planned to do.

Zhou Weiguo glanced at him and said, "Naturally, it depends on what the General Headquarters thinks."