"Too short!" Yoshio Shinozuka replied solemnly.

"There are no more troops around Taiyuan, so we can only mobilize troops from the front line to come back for reinforcements... No matter how fast they go, it will still take two or three days..."

"By the time they return to Taiyuan, we will have been wiped out by the independent group!"

"Let all the troops stationed in the outer city retreat to the inner city. We abandon the outer city and concentrate all our troops and firepower to defend the inner city..."

"The inner city is much smaller than the outer city. Defending the inner city can not only concentrate firepower but also troops. It will definitely be no problem to hold on for three or four days!"

"Immediately send a telegram to the frontline mopping up troops...Immediately dispatch three infantry brigades to return to Taiyuan..."

"No, three brigades are too few!"

"In the battle of Xingling, the Independent Regiment defeated our three brigades in one battle. The same thing must not happen again!"

"Directly dispatch six infantry brigades and one artillery brigade to march back to Taiyuan to support Taiyuan..."

"I want to wipe out the independent group in the outer city of Taiyuan!"

The chief of staff agreed with this approach, but did not immediately accept the order.

The outer city of Taiyuan is not only home to a large number of ordinary people and expatriates, but also has a large number of military facilities. If they are all abandoned, the losses to the Shanxi garrison will also be huge.

Immediately reminded Yoshio Shinozuka: "Commander... The Taiyuan Arsenal is in the outer city... Giving up the outer city is equivalent to giving up the arsenal... Otherwise, the arsenal will be blown up when the troops retreat... What we can't get from the Eighth Route Army

Don’t even think about it!”

"It can't explode!" Shinozuka Yoshio shook his head like a rattle and denied without hesitation.

"Do you think the arsenal is the weapons and ammunition we usually use? We can get replenished at any time if it explodes?"

"Many of the equipment in the arsenal are not only of high value, but also unique. They are not available in the whole of China... After they are bombed, they can only be shipped from China!"

"There is also a lot of domestic military equipment. It is impossible for us to just give it to us if we want it!"

"If we really blow up the arsenal, we may not be able to resume production in the next year!"

"You are also considered a high-ranking officer of the Japanese Empire. You should know that the strategic direction and strategic focus of the empire have shifted..."

"Since last year, the domestic supply of weapons, ammunition and supplies to us has been decreasing."

"By the beginning of this year, the ammunition supplies we had received were less than half of previous years!"

"But our operations are becoming more and more frequent and larger in scale, and we consume far more ammunition than in previous years."

"This means that half of the weapons and ammunition required by the Shanxi garrison every year must be provided by themselves!"

"Our only solution is the Taiyuan Arsenal!"

"If the Taiyuan Arsenal did not produce a steady stream of weapons and ammunition for us, the ammunition consumption and reserves of all Shanxi garrison troops would be halved. Then how could we still fight, how could we fight a big war!"

"In order to ensure that there are no problems with the ammunition supply for the Shanxi garrison, there must be no problems at the Taiyuan Arsenal!"

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Chapter completed!