At the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, the deputy chief of staff hurriedly walked in with a telegram in his hand.

The boss stands in front of the map. The brow is furrowed.

There's been so much going on lately, and a lot of it has been very bad for the overall situation of the war.

Especially the recent rise of the curve to save the country.

Instigated by this traitorous policy, many anti-Japanese troops operating behind enemy lines defected.

Under such circumstances, the Eighth Route Army became more and more isolated, and could even be called alone.

As the atmosphere of surrender became stronger and stronger, many soldiers and civilians in the base areas began to lose confidence in the war of resistance.

Obviously, the Japanese also saw this, and quite a number of troops took the opportunity to launch an attack on the base areas in an attempt to break the anti-Japanese determination of the army and people in the base areas and completely crush the Eighth Route Army.

In this situation, there is only one way to break the game.

That is to win the battle, face the difficulties, and fight an unprecedented victory.

What the boss is thinking about now is how the Eighth Route Army can win a big victory in this unfavorable situation.

The deputy chief of staff was well aware of this, and although he wanted to share the good news he had just gotten with the boss, he held back in the end.

I decided not to interrupt the boss's thoughts, and waited for the boss to understand before speaking.

This stop is more than half an hour.

As soon as the deputy commander-in-chief withdrew his gaze from the map, the deputy chief of staff couldn't help but report: "Boss, good news, and this good news was brought to us by Comrade Li Hao. ”

"Haven't we been planning a big counteroffensive these days?"

"Since it is a counteroffensive, and our opponents like to hide in the turret and the county town to hold on, if you want to kill them, you must need a lot of siege heavy weapons, otherwise the soldiers can only fight with their lives, which is not cost-effective."

"But what our Eighth Route Army lacks most is heavy weapons, and Comrade Li Hao, who is in Chongqing, in the rear, actually helped us solve this problem."

"The Eighth Route Army's office in Chongqing has just sent a telegram that Comrade Li Hao has prepared 150 large-caliber mortars for us in Chongqing, all of which are of 150 mm caliber and 100,000 rounds of artillery shells, an average of more than 600 shells per gun, and 12,000 rounds of heavy artillery shells for the heavy artillery battalion of the garrison regiment that has run out of shells."

"At present, the first batch of weapons and ammunition is on its way to Xi'an, and the underground party is responsible for receiving it."

"Excluding the shells prepared for the garrison regiment, the first batch of weapons and ammunition consisted of six heavy mortars and three hundred shells, which was exactly the equipment and ammunition of a heavy mortar company."

"Yan'an asked for these weapons and ammunition to be sent directly to the front line, and asked which unit we should equip first, and the underground party sent them directly through the underground communication line."

The deputy commander-in-chief's brow, which had been furrowed for several days, relaxed for the first time.

After receiving the telegram, he confirmed it several times, and after affirming that what the deputy chief of staff said was true, he said with emotion on his face.

"God really helps us with the Eighth Route Army!"

"With these heavy weapons and shells, our chances of winning this next major counteroffensive will be greater, and the casualties of the soldiers will definitely be much smaller."

"Call back immediately, these equipment and ammunition will be sent directly to the northwest of Shanxi, the Japanese are attacking there, and six heavy mortars and mortars are now being sent over, which must be a great help in the snow."

"Tell the underground party that the faster the better, and that the front-line soldiers are waiting for them."

In the base area in the northwest of Shanxi, a big battle has been going on for an hour and is intensifying.

In order to cover the headquarters organs, field hospitals, schools, and the common people in the commander's station, a total of more than 5,000 soldiers and civilians got rid of the pursuit of the Japanese puppet army.

The guard battalion, the recruit battalion, the artillery company, and a subordinate main regiment under the command have been guarding here for a whole hour.

In an hour of fighting, the total strength of the Japanese puppet army not only did not decrease, but increased from 1,000 to 2,000.

The artillery was also increased from one mortar squadron to two mortar squadrons, one mountain artillery squadron.

On the other hand, the Eighth Route Army had only two infantry guns and two mortars in the artillery company directly under the headquarters.

The artillery company of the main regiment had only four mortars, adding up to six mortars and two infantry guns, which were not at the same level as the Japanese artillery!

Soon after the battle began, the artillery of the Eighth Route Army withdrew from the battle with more than half of the losses.

Although the Japanese also lost five artillery pieces, there were still as many as nineteen left.

After there was no threat from the artillery of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese artillery became completely unscrupulous, concentrating all the artillery fire to support the infantry, trying to break through the defense line of the Eighth Route Army.

As soon as the commander of the Eighth Route Army and the political commissar walked in, the former enemy commander-in-chief frowned and reported in a hurry.

"Chief, the little devil's artillery fire is too fierce, and the troops have suffered heavy casualties."

"The artillery has already been disabled, the position is completely supported by the infantry, continue to fight, and the troops will be crippled in another hour."

"If you can't hold it, you have to hold it!" The commander replied with a calm face.

"The organs directly under the headquarters, field hospitals, schools, ordinary people, five or six thousand lives are in your hands."

"Hold their ground, and they will survive."

"If they can't hold their positions, they will fall into the hands of little devils."

"There is still an hour before it gets dark, and as long as it lasts until dark, the troops can alternately cover the evacuation positions."

The former commander-in-chief of the enemy, who was also the commander of the main regiment who was fighting the battlefield, could only answer stubbornly: "Please rest assured, commander, that the people are in the position." ”

"We will never let those soldiers and civilians fall into the hands of little devils, otherwise they will definitely die."

After speaking, the regiment commander ordered the chief of staff on the side: "Order the reserves to prepare for battle." ”

"The baggage company will take out all the remaining ammunition in the regiment and send it to the battlefield with the reserve in a moment."

"For the safety of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the rear, Lao Tzu can't do it."

The commander followed the order: "I will hand over the headquarters guard battalion and the recruit battalion to you, and will guard it until dark at all costs." ”

Suddenly, the political commissar of the headquarters rushed over in a hurry, followed by the commander of the artillery company directly under the headquarters and a stranger.

When he saw the commander, he reported excitedly: "Commander, good news, we have reinforcements." ”

"Reinforcements? I don't seem to have asked my superiors for reinforcements, and we don't have troops nearby to reinforce us? The commander furrowed his brows, puzzled.

"It was sent to us by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and it is not an ordinary reinforcement, it can definitely be called a charcoal in the snow." The commissar explained.

"This is Comrade Chen Yunian, the person in charge of this underground party, who sent us a batch of weapons and ammunition on the order of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, a total of six large-caliber mortars and 300 shells.

The commander of the artillery company finally found a chance to speak, with a smile on his face, and reported excitedly: "Report to the chief, those six mortars are not ordinary mortars, they are all large-caliber heavy mortars, and their power is several times greater than the mountain artillery equipped by the little devils. ”

"Although there are only six, I am confident that I will take out the enemy artillery unit with these six heavy mortars."

It was only then that the commander reacted from the blindfold, looked at the artillery company commander, and asked with a look of disbelief.

"The Japanese also had almost twenty artillery pieces, including four mountain guns. You only have six cannons, and you can really take them out. ”

"I dare to make a military order!" Company Commander Zhou replied confidently.

"The devil is too arrogant, in order to concentrate fire to support the infantry, mortars, mountain artillery, all arranged together, and the artillery positions are very dense, and the artillery battle is simply looking for death."

"The caliber of the heavy mortar is 150 millimeters, and the power is huge, as long as a shell hits their artillery position, the artillery within 20 meters of the perimeter will definitely be killed or injured."

"I calculated that a maximum of twenty shells would cover the entire artillery position."

"When the time comes, we can still fight the devil infantry, hit the devil's assembly area, and smash it with one shell, and we can kill at least twenty devils."