In other words, after Xu Wen, Zhou Weiguo, and Chen Zhenglun withdrew from Wuxi with their troops, they wanted to bypass Suzhou from the southeast of Suzhou, and then rush behind enemy lines to force the main forces of the Japanese army in Suzhou and other places to return to help, so as to achieve the purpose of mobilizing and containing the Japanese army.

However, as soon as the troops set off and walked less than ten kilometers to the southeast, Li Wu, who was on a reconnaissance mission with a group of tanks and armored vehicles in front, suddenly sent back the news: "Big brother, there are several groups of devil cavalry in front, and we have been discovered. ”

"What do you eat? Didn't you tell you to be careful? When Xu Wen got the news, he was a little angry and scolded.

Zhou Weiguo also heard the news through the radio, and without waiting for Li Wu to reply, he immediately interrupted Xu Wen and said: "Big brother, it seems that the devil has expanded the alert level and reconnaissance range, and it is probably impossible for us to bypass from the southeast of Suzhou." ”

Chen Zhenglun also suggested to Xu Wen by radio: "Yes, in addition to the Japanese army in Suzhou, there are also Japanese troops in Jiangyin who are attacking our Jiangyin fortress on a large scale.

There is too little room for us to intersperse detours, and the devils only need to send more cavalry reconnaissance posts to seal off the road, and once our whereabouts are revealed, it will not be much fun for us to continue on our way. ”

"The chief of staff is right." Zhou Wei National Road.

Xu Wen pondered for a while, and immediately ordered Li Wu: "Second brother, withdraw with your team immediately, we won't go to the east shore of Taihu Lake." ”

"Where are you going?" Li Wu asked on the radio.

"Go to Yixing, along the west bank of Taihu Lake, go straight to Hu County, and then rush to Shanghai, forcing the Japanese army to return to the division to rescue." Xu Wendao.

Both Zhou Weiguo and Chen Zhenglun agreed with Xu Wen's decision, so the Independent Brigade quickly withdrew to Wuxi, and the main Japanese force in the direction of Suzhou had not yet advanced to Wuxi.

From Wuxi to the west along the north shore of Taihu Lake, it quickly entered the territory of Yixing.

As for the Japanese army, although a large number of cavalry and reconnaissance planes were sent on the ground and in the air, the devils put the main reconnaissance directions, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou to Nanjing.

I didn't expect that Xu Wen and their crippled middle ** would dare to march west.

Because at that time, the Japanese army on the Western Front, in addition to the Kunisaki detachment drawn from the 5th Division, also had a 1st Division, and these two Japanese strong brigades had respectively captured Huzhou, Changxing, Yixing, Xuancheng, Guangde, Liyang, Lishui and other large areas west of Taihu Lake.

The Kunisaki detachment, as the vanguard, had already reached Wuhu, so to speak, the Huxi area at that time was already a Japanese theater of operations.

It's just that Yixing was too close to the battlefield on the middle line, and the 1st Division and the Guoqi Detachment were busy advancing northward, trying to cross the Yangtze River north as soon as possible to complete the roundabout outflanking of Nanjing.

Therefore, no troops were sent in.

Therefore, Xu Wen, Zhou Weiguo and others quickly passed through Yixing with their troops and entered the vicinity of Changxing County in the evening of the same day.

This time, in order to prevent the grass from startling the snake, Zhou Weiguo suggested to Xu Wen that the whole brigade stop advancing, and he would lead a small group of elite soldiers to act as a reconnaissance force to go to the front to find out the situation.

Xu Wen, who had been much more cautious, readily agreed.

Zhou Weiguo also lived up to expectations, and half an hour later, he withdrew with dozens of reconnaissance fighters and reported to Xu Wen: "There are devils stationed in Changxing County in front, but there are not many troops, and it is estimated that there are one or two squadrons at most. ”

"What? To fight or not to fight?? ”

Xu Wen muttered: "Even this place has fallen, it seems that the Japanese army in the area west of Taihu Lake has almost reached the edge of the Yangtze River." ”

Chen Zhenglun nodded and said: "After the defeat of the Battle of Songhu, the Japanese army was divided into three routes, the troops of the western front marched north along the west bank of Taihu Lake, and the troops of the eastern front traced the river along both sides of the Yangtze River.

The middle line is the 16th and 6th divisions, and the three armies are advancing at the same time, advancing quickly, but they are blocked by us in Wuxi.

Otherwise, it will be estimated that the devil's middle lane troops should all be about to hit Nanjing! ”

Xu Wen asked Zhou Weiguo: "Can you bypass it?" ”

There are only one or two hundred devils, Xu Wen doesn't want to waste ammunition, the most important thing is that he is afraid of exposing his whereabouts in advance, and now he doesn't want to expose it too early.

Zhou Weiguo shook his head and said: "The terrain here is relatively steep, with Taihu Lake in the east, Tianmu Mountain in the west, and Changxing County is stuck in the middle.

If we go around, we can only go west, and the west is mostly mountains and forests, which is very unfavorable for the mobility of our armored forces!

The road was narrow and rugged, and once discovered by the Japanese army and set up an ambush on the way, we could not deploy, so we could only be beaten passively. ”

"And after crossing Changxing County, we will enter the East Zhejiang Plain, and then the speed and assault power of our mechanized march can be fully exerted!"

"In that case, you have to fight!" Xu Wendao.

"Well, fortunately, there aren't many devils in the city, and besides, I guess they won't necessarily have a radio station, so with our firepower, it won't be a problem to take this place." Zhou Wei National Road.

Xu Wen frowned and said, "You can't storm it, what if the enemy is equipped with a radio station?" Aren't we going to expose our whereabouts in advance? ”

Zhou Weiguo muttered: "Since this is the case, then I will lead an assault team to sneak into the city on foot, and take out the enemy's headquarters in the city first, so that no matter whether they are equipped with a radio station or not, they can be foolproof." ”

Chen Zhenglun nodded in agreement: "I think it's okay, first sneak attack and kill the Japanese headquarters in the city, and then organize a strong attack with our tanks and armored vehicles, I think I can take it in an hour at the latest!" ”

Xu Wenwen wanted to say, let me take the commando team up, but after thinking about it, it is still a matter of life, although he is ahead of Zhou Weiguo in knowledge, he has also learned the driving and manipulation skills of the tank.

But for individual soldiers and special operations, it is still worse than Zhou Weiguo.

Moreover, he is now the brigade commander, the supreme commander of the independent brigade, so he can avoid it as much as possible.

So, Xu Wen happily nodded and agreed with Zhou Weiguo's suggestion, and instructed him with a solemn expression: "Weiguo, be careful, if you can't do anything, send a signal, I will immediately lead the whole brigade to storm, break the city gate as quickly as possible, and rush in to join you." ”

Zhou Weiguo nodded confidently and happily: "Don't worry, big brother, I'll come when I go!" ”

", this is the crazy and domineering Zhou Weiguo in my impression." Xu Wen secretly praised in his heart, and immediately asked Li Wu and the others to be built into all-round special forces veterans of Qingfeng Village to follow Zhou Weiguo to act together.

In the first battle of Suzhou, the veterans of Qingfeng Village and the all-round soldiers who were later transformed by Xu Wen with skill books also suffered a lot of losses, and now there are only more than 20 people left.

However, for Zhou Weiguo, more than 20 soldiers with rich combat experience and outstanding individual ability were enough to carry out this night attack mission.

After gathering good manpower and talking about some precautions, Zhou Weiguo immediately turned around and saluted Xu Wen to say goodbye: "Big brother, I'm going!" ”

"Go ahead, please." Xu Wen nodded solemnly, with an earnest expression.