On the night of September 18 (August 13 of the lunar calendar), the troops participating in the battle of the 1st Division of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan quickly surrounded Chiping County and actively prepared for the scheduled tasks. It's just that because the second regiment has not arrived for the time being, the fourth and fifth regiments each send out one to besiege the north of Chiping.

The actions of the 6,000 or 7,000 troops of the Eighth Route Army, coupled with the active cooperation of the county brigades and district squads, as well as a large amount of the local government's front-line work, quickly "roared" the land of Chiping, causing the people of the entire Chiping County to boil.

"The Eighth Route Army is surrounding Li Qishan!" The news spread like lightning all over the land of Chiping, and the alleys and alleys of the villages outside the county seat were plastered with "Welcome the hard-working Eighth Route Army, open Chiping County, and capture Li Qishan alive!" slogan.

Under the call of the local government, every village and every household invested in the intense collection of firewood, grinding flour and preparing war materials, and the large trucks and small vehicles sent by various districts gathered at the Balizhuang front-line logistics base overnight. At the same time, the militia, stretcher teams, and city-breaking migrant workers organized by the anti-Japanese base areas were also marched to the designated places on the front line to stand by in battle.

On September 19, the siege battle officially began. Before dawn that day, the first battalion and one company of our fifth regiment wiped out more than 60 people from the first security squadron of the Dongguan Tianqi Temple Puppet County Brigade. At the same time, nearly 100 enemies stationed in the puppet police station and the puppet district office in the first district office stationed in Nanguanda Temple and Fujiaemiao were also completely eliminated by our army. All four levels of enemies were destroyed.

On September 20, our besieging troops prepared for a strong attack. Unfortunately, Comrade Xu Baobi, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment, was at the front line inspecting the fortifications and was shot and died honorably when he shouted to the enemy, which aroused the incomparable anger of the commanders and fighters of the whole regiment.

On the 21st, the attack at the east gate began, and the task of the fifth regiment was to assist the second regiment in assisting, but because there was no formal attack, that is, a general was broken, which aroused the revenge determination of the soldiers of the fifth regiment, so they treated the assist as the main attack.

The commandos of the 5th Regiment filled the large oil barrels brought by Han Xing with earthen explosives, and then pushed forward in the rain of enemy bullets. Pushed to the moat, lit the fuse, and pushed down.

"Boom-" "Boom-" With a loud bang, the enemy's moat was blown up several times. The steep slope that used to be a cliff turned into a gentle, loose slope that could be descended.

The assault team continued to attack, rolling oil drums and pushing forward, the moat was too wide, 30 meters long. Enemy bullets came from the walls and pillboxes, several fighters fell in pools of blood, and the personnel of the 1st Commando were quickly depleted.

The second commando team began to go up, and was quickly depleted again.

After several rounds of continuous loading, a few oil drums were finally pushed to the other end of the moat. After the fuse was sounded, the commandos retreated to the rear.

"Boom, boom, boom," there was a loud bang, and the other end of the moat was blown up several more sections, revealing a few slopes.

The first battalion that served as the main attacker, with a deep attachment to their battalion commander, shouted loudly: "Avenge Xu Baobi and eliminate Li Qishan!" With the slogan of "Rush, enter Chiping County and destroy Li Qishan," he carried a ladder and quickly approached the moat, went down to the moat, and bravely attacked forward.

The bombed-up moats, which covered some of the mines and grenades planted by the enemy, reduced the casualties of the troops.

As soon as the soldiers rushed to the moat of the city, they were still about forty meters away from the enemy's city wall, and the enemy's machine guns and rifle bullets were pouring down on the soldiers of the first battalion like a storm. Countless warriors fell in pools of blood, but many more rushed towards the enemy without fear.

Some of the fighters finally put the ladder on the wall, but the enemy's grenades fell again. "Boom Boom Boom ......" "Boom Boom Boom ......" Some of the ladders were blown up, and the soldiers who had just climbed the ladders fell down again, and some of the fighters below were directly killed.

The fallen soldiers and the seriously wounded soldiers lay on the ground, and the soldiers of the first battalion of the main attack had already suffered nearly half of the casualties......

Seeing such a situation, Han Xing put down his binoculars and said to Liu Zhiyuan: "Commander Liu, I suggest that such an attack must be stopped. ”

Liu Zhiyuan also felt that the situation was serious, the lives of the soldiers were precious, and with such a hard attack, how many casualties would have to be taken to take the county seat. So he ordered the commander of the fifth regiment: "The attack will be stopped immediately, and we will find a way to talk about it." ”

The commander of the fifth regiment is in a hurry, he sacrificed a battalion commander Xu Baobi yesterday, and today he has suffered so many casualties, can he not catch fire! He said to Liu Zhiyuan anxiously: "Commander Liu, the fighting passion of the soldiers is very high, and the battle has just begun, stop fighting at this time." Not really! ”

Liu Zhiyuan was also anxious: "What's not good, stop and talk about it first!" Your task is to assist, not to attack, and you can't ignore people, and you have to reduce casualties. Stop first and use your brain. ”

At this time, it was good for Han Xing to have a howitzer company, but it was arranged in the north, and the muzzle of the gun was facing the north gate. At the east gate, it will be difficult to support artillery fire. Besides, good steel is used on the blade, and once the cannon is fired, it must be successful, and the position and number of the artillery must not be easily exposed.

Li Qishan also personally sat in command of the East Gate. When he saw that the Eighth Route Army had stopped attacking and all retreated, he breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and said to his city defense commander Xu Xuezhang: "I thought the main force of the Eighth Route was so powerful, but so!" In this battle, more than 200 people were killed and wounded. In the future, when you encounter an eight-way attack, you will fight like this! ”

Xu Xuezhang was also so excited that his eyes lit up, and he said to Li Qishan: "Don't worry, County Magistrate Li, we have experience in this battle." There were no guns on the Eighth Road, just machine guns with rifles and bayonets, and grenades. The big victory in this battle, coupled with the killing of the bandit leader Xu Baobi yesterday, is the icing on the cake! Stick to it for three months, I don't think there's really any problem! ”

The two of them high-fived each other, grinned, and celebrated happily.

"However, we can't take it lightly," Li Qishan reminded Xu Xuezhang and said, "The Eighth Route Army is pressing the border, and there are so many ordinary people supporting them, the momentum is huge!" Now we can't withdraw if we want to, we can't transfer troops in, and the situation is unfavorable. In my opinion, it is better to cover all the four doors with sacks to prevent the eight roads from rushing in through the main entrance. In addition, the troops are called to patrol day and night, and if anyone is playing with their duties, military law will be carried out. ”

Xu Xuezhang agreed: "Yes!" "I arranged it immediately.

Besides, on the night of the 21st, the 2nd Regiment of the Division arrived at Chiping. As soon as the 2nd Regiment arrived, all the main forces of the 1st Division arrived, so that the main attack on Chiping County could already be launched. That night, Commander Liu Zhiyuan held a pre-war meeting, which was attended by the commanders of the main regiments and relevant personnel of the headquarters. At the meeting, Liu Zhiyuan said to everyone:

"Comrades, after 8 years of the Anti-Japanese War, I finally waited for the opportunity to encircle and annihilate Li Qishan, a traitor. Li Qishan's troops are still very strong, with a total strength of more than 5,700 people, most of which are scattered in several strongholds such as Liu Wangshan, Zhang Liangqiao, Putuo Temple and his old nest Yuanzhuang, which are far away from the city.

Now the strength of the city is 2,100 people, but we must not be careless, Li Qishan is a bandit and is very cunning. His city defense commander Xu Xuezhang, the captain of the puppet county brigade and the head of the 6th regiment, Lu Zhaoyue, the commander of the third regiment, Li Changlu, the commander of the independent battalion, and Yang Cuncai, the commander of the pistol battalion, etc., are his allied brothers and early defection to the Japanese invaders.

The sub-district party committee studied and decided to launch the siege tomorrow, that is, on the 22nd, with the 2nd Regiment as the main attack. The Fourth Regiment should increase the siege force, fire the first shot on time, and attract the enemy's strength and firepower, so as to facilitate the main attack of the Second Regiment at the North Gate. After the attack of the Fifth Regiment, it went straight to the headquarters of Li Bandit, that is, the puppet county government. In order to cooperate with our offensive, the new 8th Brigade also directly sent Han Xing with an artillery company and guard battalion to support us. ”

As soon as these regimental-level cadres heard that the attack was supported by the artillery of the new 8th Brigade, they could not help but be excited, and their faces were flushed with excitement. And Han Xing's name, no one knows, no one knows, one by one to Han Xing with warm applause, full of expectant eyes.

Han Xing really didn't expect that Liu Zhiyuan also left him a chance to speak, and hurriedly waved his hand and said, "I'll disperse, everything is under Commander Liu's command." ”

These regiment-level commanders still warmly applauded Han Xing and demanded that Han Xing speak with applause. Han Xing's military exploits in the southern expedition convinced them, and they didn't care about your official position, as long as you can lead the army to win the battle, that is the last word.

Liu Zhiyuan was urging Han Xing again: "Everyone hopes that you can say two sentences, don't delay everyone's time." ”

Han Xing stood up a little shyly and said to everyone: "After the battle starts, I promise that I will first destroy the enemy's four pillboxes, and then collapse the northern city wall and let it open a few big holes. In addition, it is responsible for the artillery support of the eastern, western, and southern city walls, and there is no certainty of the collapse of the city wall, so it can only be suppressed by artillery fire. ”

Han Xing knew that his identity was special, and he could only talk about it, and he couldn't take the lead.

Han Xing's speech was warmly welcomed by everyone.

Liu Zhiyuan concluded: "Artillery is the god of war!" Every cannon of Commander Han, the cannon is golden! How many of our soldiers' lives can be exchanged for a single shot......"

After the meeting, Han Xing was still not at ease, so he went to Libus and asked about the artillery preparations.

The moon is like a rare pearl, set in the sky. The moonlight enveloped the surrounding fields like a soft white veil, and the entire northern part of Chiping was bathed in this soft moonlight. The moonlight flowed in the fields, and everything was so quiet that it seemed that the whole world was only its steady heartbeat and gentle footsteps.

A cool night breeze gently swept by, and it was like a pot of old wine, pouring into the surrounding trees and the crops in the fields, and they swayed and made a cheerful, lively "rustle" sound. In the field, the sound of frogs and insects rises and falls, wave after wave, "quack" and "buzz", and even the flashing fireflies come to join in the fun.