Fortunately, the First Army Headquarters had deployed a large number of troops nearby, as long as his 4th Brigade lured in enough Chinese troops.

So......

The main force of the First Army will encircle them like dumplings, and then these Chinese troops will have no chance to escape!

Thinking of this, he looked at the brigade chief of staff, Yamaguchi Shun, and said, "Notify the troops to prepare for battle immediately. Niangziguan Pass must not be lost!"

"At the same time, send a telegram to the First Army Headquarters, telling General Shinotsuka that the Chinese army has taken the bait, and that my 4th Brigade will definitely be able to hold back the Chinese army and wait for the main force of the First Army to arrive so that we can completely annihilate these Chinese troops."

"Hai!"

Brigade Chief of Staff Toshiyasu Yamaguchi accepted the order and left.

After he left, Hiratsu Yuu kept looking at the map, his face growing increasingly grim.

Can Niangziguan Pass really be defended?

The enemy and friend are currently unclear, and it is still unknown how many Chinese troops are nearby.

However, throughout the history of the invasion of China, the Chinese army has never been able to completely annihilate a brigade!

Of course, this excludes Tadao Yoshizawa's 3rd Brigade.

Hirachi Yuu suddenly thought of Yoshizawa Tadao's 3rd Brigade, and he couldn't help but laugh, "Yoshizawa Tadao, Yoshizawa Tadao, I'm not as stupid as you."

………………………………

Taiyuan, Independent Garrison Command (First Army Command).

The First Army Commander Yoshio Shinotsuka, Chief of Staff Shunsuke Nishimura, Chief of Operations Masahiro Ono, Chief of Intelligence Masao Takahashi, Chief of Special Attack Section Sasaki, and others were all present.

On the table in front of them were stacks of telegrams.

"General Shinotsuka, just as you predicted, the Chinese army has arrived at Niangziguan Pass."

Chief of the Intelligence Department, Masao Takahashi, pointed to the telegram on the table. "According to intelligence, a large number of Chinese troops have appeared near Niangziguan. We don't know which specific unit of the Chinese army it is, but the number is at least tens of thousands."

"Moreover, the Chinese army was present on the Pingding-Yuci section of the railway, the Beitongpu Railway, and the Fenli Highway."

"The railway, highway, and bridges leading to Niangziguan have all been damaged to varying degrees."

Yoshio Shinotsuka nodded.

He knew that the Chinese army was destroying these places to cover up their purpose in attacking Niangziguan.

Where are our troops now?

Yoshio Shinotsuka frowned. Although he had anticipated that the Chinese army would attack Niangziguan, if the encircling forces failed to plug the gap in time, they would be counter-encircled.

Then Hiratsu Yuu's 4th Brigade is in danger.

"According to intelligence, the 36th Division has arrived in Meng County, the 37th Division has arrived in Pingding, and the 16th Brigade, the 1st Division of the Puppet Army, the 2nd Division of the Puppet Army, the 3rd Division of the Puppet Army, and the 4th Division of the Puppet Army have all arrived at the pre-arranged battlefield."

As he spoke, Ono Shoji, the head of the operations department, picked up a document and handed it to Shinotsuka Yoshio.

"very good."

Yoshio Shinotsuka nodded. "Now we only need to take the last step, waiting for the Chinese army to take the bait!"

"Bang--!"

Suddenly, the headquarters door was kicked open from the outside.

A Japanese communications soldier rushed in, shouting repeatedly, "General Shinotsuka, General Shinotsuka!"

Yoshio Shinotsuka frowned. "What happened?"

The communications soldier, panting, reported, "General Shinotsuka, Yangmingbao Airport has fallen!!!"