On the morning of the 13th, the Japanese army, except for an infantry squadron of 200 men and 2 infantry artillery detachments left behind at Donkey Ridge to guard, the rest of the main forces marched along the mountain road to the town of Shiyu, which was thirty miles away.

The field artillery brigade had to be abandoned because of the narrow mountain road, and was escorted to the front line of Niangziguan by an infantry squadron with a casualty rate of more than 50 percent and needed to be repaired.

The formation of the 26th Artillery Wing will be completely complete after obtaining this returned field artillery brigade, with 24 field guns and 12 105mm howitzers, posing a greater threat to the Niangziguan defense line.

The 40th Infantry Brigade, which is almost the whole army dispatched and still has nearly 4 infantry brigades after integration, has 13 infantry squadrons and nearly 2,700 infantry at this time; 5 heavy machine gun squadrons with more than 40 heavy machine guns and more than 500 personnel; The artillery squadrons directly under the two infantry wings have a total of 8 mountain guns, 8 infantry guns, and 4 90 mortars, with more than 500 personnel; The artillery squads directly under the five infantry brigades have 10 infantry guns and more than 300 personnel; 4 baggage squadrons with more than 800 personnel; A mountain artillery brigade has 12 mountain artillery guns, and the personnel are more than 1,000 people, plus the personnel of the two infantry wings, the infantry squadron directly under the brigade and the regimental headquarters.

The 40th Infantry Brigade set out from the Donkey Ridge numbered more than 6,500 people, and it was arranged for fifteen miles on the mountain road. It can be said that the soldiers are strong and the horses are terrifying, and Yoshio Kamitsuki, who is standing on the mountain with the 80th Infantry Wing Headquarters, can't help but bow slightly.

This is the strength of the 40th Infantry Brigade, with such a strong army, what kind of position can't be captured? Not counting the mountain artillery brigade borrowed from the 109th Division, not counting most of the infantry brigade left behind in Jingcheng County, his 40th Infantry Brigade should have more than 7,200 people at full strength this time, but now, it is a full 1,700 people, two infantry brigades were basically disabled, more than 1,000 people were killed, and more than 600 people were transported to the division's field hospital in Jingcheng County.

In comparison, the 17th Division suffered 6,000 casualties, more than 1,500 people were treated for wounds, and the total casualties exceeded 7,500, and the casualty ratio of the Japanese army in the two battles of Xuehua Mountain and Donkey Ridge was 4.5 to 1, which seemed to be a big defeat for the defending 17th Division.

As everyone knows, since the 77 Incident, whether it is the North China Battlefield, which has been defeated again and again, or the Songhu Battlefield, where almost all the elite Central Army reorganized divisions have been exhausted and Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi, and Yunnan are filling in the miscellaneous armies, the casualty ratio between the national army and the Japanese has never been less than 7:1.

In other words, for every Japanese soldier who wanted to kill or injure a Japanese prisoner, the Chinese officers and soldiers had to pay at least seven people. On the other hand, in the battle of Donkey Ridge, although the heroic 17th Division abandoned its position due to strategic needs, it was a victorious battle in the five-day defensive battle.

The 40th Infantry Brigade has lost the combat strength of two infantry brigades, and its strength has been reduced by a third.

But the reason why the 40th Infantry Brigade, which only has two-thirds of its strength and has been reinforced by a mountain artillery brigade, dares to go deep into the Taihang Mountains alone, is that they are confident enough, even if they encounter more than 20,000 Chinese troops, they dare to fight against them. In fact, they have this strength as well.

In the past time and space, the 17th Division defended the bloody battle of Xuehua Mountain and the Japanese invaders for 9 days, and the actual battle losses were as high as 10,000 people, and the final withdrawal to Niangzi Pass was only more than 2,700 people. The 40th Infantry Brigade only dispatched one wing.

Now with a total of 20 75 mountain guns, 12 infantry guns and 4 mortars, not counting the assistance of army bombers in the sky, they can completely defeat the two Chinese divisions head-on.

The Japanese army, there is no hole card, their hole card is the strong combat effectiveness of the 40th Infantry Brigade, from the 20th Division to the lowest soldiers, they do not think that there will be a Chinese army that can pose a little threat to them. Perhaps, but not here, the fierce Independent Regiment is fighting fiercely with the 77th Infantry Wing at Jiuguan.

After fighting for four days in a row, not to mention Takagi Yoshito, even Kawagishi Bunzaburo, who was far away in Shijiazhuang, had to admit that the Independent Regiment had the strength to compete with the 77th Wing. Even he had to tragically admit that without the 105 howitzers, the 77th Infantry Wing was no match for the Separate Regiment.

This is not that Kawagishi Bunzaburo is pessimistic, but that the battlefield situation does undoubtedly reveal the gap between the two sides.

When no howitzers were used to bombard, the two sides fired coldly on the battlefield, and the range was as high as 400 meters, and the casualties of the Japanese troops were as high as 10 percent. However, there were few Chinese casualties on the battlefield, and the Japanese army was completely defeated in their proud marksmanship.

This alone will not make the arrogant Japanese army feel that their skills are inferior. What made the first line of Liden Xingoshi and Major General Yoshito Takagi chill the most was the firepower displayed by the defenders of the Independent Regiment on the Jiuguan position, and they were equipped with at least more than 20 mortars of large and small calibers, and more than 30 light and heavy machine guns.

If there is no field artillery howitzer brigade to help, not to mention the mountain offensive and defensive battles, even in the plain field battles, they are not necessarily the opponents of the independent regiments, which are still a few hundred in number.

Fortunately, there is only one such terrible opponent, China, and the number is not large, only one regiment. And such an infantry regiment was firmly pinned down by the 39th Infantry Brigade at Jiuguan, which was definitely good news for Yoshio last month.

Except for the Independent Regiment, there was no Chinese force that could stop his roundabout advance towards Niangzi Pass.

Of course, last month Yoshio would not have known that except for one battalion of the Independent Regiment in Jiuguan, the rest were waiting for him on his way --- Qiqian Village.

In fact, the infantry brigade is also enough to be proud. In order to deal with them, Liu Lang began to make preparations in late September, first painstakingly transferred troops with the 386 Brigade, and replaced most of the main force of the ambush force in Qiqian Village with an independent regiment with firepower that was even two-thirds stronger than that of the Japanese army, and then spent a lot of money to buy enough ammunition and "big killing weapons" specially used to deal with the Japanese army from the old men in Shanxi, and finally used all kinds of contacts to transfer the "aviation volunteers" to Yan'an, preparing to annihilate the Japanese army's biggest threat, --- aircraft, at the beginning of the ambush war.

Don't think it's easy, in order to annihilate these more than 6,000 little devils, Liu Lang can be said to have used all his efforts in the past five years. The independent regiment is armed with all kinds of light and heavy weapons to the teeth, the fairly good trade relations established with the old men in Shanxi, the "Aviation Volunteer Army" that was established in person to the United States, although the relationship has been completely cleared but the connections are still the behemoth Chinese business group, and more importantly, the red regime, if Liu Lang is not Liu Lang, the face of the commander-in-chief of the Air Force Zhou will not be good.

However, Liu Lang, who had already received information that the Japanese army had begun to advance towards Shiyu Town, received a secret telegram from the Red Central of Yan'an, and finally found that he was still too tender.

He has tried his best to perfect the tactics that belong to the military category, but he is still too naïve for political considerations.

"The 15 fighters of the Aviation Volunteer Army may be able to annihilate all the invading enemies and help them annihilate the 1st Brigade of the Japanese Invaders and achieve a great victory, however, after the war, the Air Volunteer Army, the Independent Regiment, and the 18th Group Army will be jealous of that one, and there will be no benefit in the united front, and the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. However, this battle must be fought, but Liu Gong is still needed. ”

The message was not long and unsigned, but Liu Lang knew who this secret telegram came from. He is the only one who can see the military and politics so clearly, looking at the whole country.

Yes, Liu Lang used all levels of connections to get 15 of the most advanced fighters of the Aviation Volunteer Army to Yan'an Airport for transfer and replenishment of ammunition, which was enough to sweep away a Japanese bomber wing in the sky over Shanxi.

But what about after the war?

Even if he has a shocking record, but the bald man in the national government knows that the aviation volunteers were transferred from Yan'an to fight with the Japanese after Liu Lang tried all kinds of means, and with his temperament, it is still good to snub the "aviation volunteers" from now on, and the biggest possibility is to divide the independent regiment and even the entire Sichuan army and the red army into one party, then, it will be a big basket.

The Sichuan army left more than 100,000 people in the two group armies, and they could all be on the front line. If he was jealous of that person, Liu Lang just thought about it, and his vest was full of cold sweat.

On the occasion of this national war, the soldier horse leather shroud has its own consciousness, but if it is because of politics, more than 100,000 Sichuan troops are so confused to become cannon fodder, but Liu Lang cannot accept it. If the pervasive Japanese spies probe this news and add fuel to the fire and expose it, with the temper of Senior Officer Liu, it will be a great turmoil.

As he said in the secret message, the harm outweighs the good.

However, this battle must be fought, so how can this big loophole be solved? Liu Lang lit a cigarette and sat in front of the cave in a daze, deep in thought.

This sat for nearly two hours, and even the beautiful reporter brought him noodle soup, Liu Lang also looked at the mountains blankly.

Until Zhang Ruhao, the deputy of the regiment, came over in a hurry and handed Liu Lang, who was still fighting between heaven and man, a note, "Admiral Liu will call and ask about the recent situation of my independent regiment on the battlefield in Jindong." ”

"Admiral Liu?" Liu Lang suddenly woke up from his contemplation.

"It's Admiral Liu! Liu Xiang, General Liu. Zhang Ruhao was stunned for a moment, and his face showed a trace of anxiety.

The big war is imminent, but Liu Lang sat for a long time, and even General Liu was stunned for a while, but this is different from the Liu Tuan Commander he is familiar with! This is, sick?

"Haha!" Liu Lang's eyes gradually lit up, "I know, I know what to do." ”

As soon as he stretched out his hand, he gave Zhang Ruhao a warm hug, "Thank you, I'll see the message later, I'll go to the communication platoon first." ”

。。。。。。

It's over, it's really sick.

For the first time in his life, he was hugged so fiercely by a fat paper, or a male fat paper, looked at the beautiful reporter over there who was also dumbfounded, and smiled bitterly.

He really should have asked Reporter Liu to take the message to the group.

All right! That seems to be a little sorry for Lieutenant Colonel Ji, if Liu Tuanzuo also behaves like this!